Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

BOXING: Mosley lays out future

Champ plans to extend fight career as trainer, adviser

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Shane Mosley will attempt to unify the 154-pound world title when he fights Winky Wright on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Shane Mosley is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television & Radio Artists.

He was recommended for a role in the Jan. 5 episode of the NBC drama "Las Vegas," by none other than Steven Spielberg. Mosley raves about his experience on "The Bernie Mac Show," and has also had parts on several other television shows, including "MadTV" and "All of Us."

He is friends with numerous actors and actresses, and says he has serious interest in the industry.

But despite Hollywood's lure, Mosley is adamant that he'll never become a full-time actor because he's too addicted to boxing.

Mosley, who will fight Winky Wright for the undisputed 154-pound championship on Saturday at Mandalay Bay, only has a few bouts remaining in his illustrious career. But he says he'll never be out of the game.

"I'm a boxing guy, and as long as I'm around I'll have something to do with boxing," Mosley said.

Unlike former world champions Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya, both of whom have formed promotional companies, Mosley's interest in boxing is at the grass-roots level.

He plans to follow in the footsteps of his father, Jack, and become a trainer.

"I want to teach, to get in there and show guys absolutely how things should be done," Mosley said. "I'm not going to stand off to the side and just watch, or tell a guy to go hit the bag. My style is more hands on, showing you step by step exactly what needs to be done."

While Mosley, 32, has earned a comfortable living as a fighter and doesn't need to worry about his next paycheck, he's not looking to make his money and run. He truly loves boxing -- "Nothing's more fun than watching two guys pouring their hearts out and going at it," he says -- and wants to see the sport thrive.

To that end, boxing has much to overcome, such as the ongoing FBI probe of Top Rank, mass confusion about the champions and arcane rules that make it difficult to have a unified title-holder for any length of time.

One vital step, Mosley said, would be for sanctioning bodies to put some of the money they earn from fighters back into the sport. For instance, he says money could be spent to put up-and-coming fighters on network TV in prime time.

Boxers typically pay 3 percent of their purse to the sanctioning body to have the right to fight for its title. For a fight such as Mosley's most recent one, a Sept. 13 victory over De La Hoya, the sanctioning body makes hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"These are the guys getting rich off the fighters, so why aren't they forced to put some of that back in and try to grow the sport?" Mosley said. "Look at all the money they made from me and De La Hoya. They could take that and put a show on (network) TV with the young Olympians. It would get people interested in the fighters and help the sport."

But the best thing for boxing, Mosley said, would be consistently great fights. That's partly why he agreed to take on Wright, whom De La Hoya steadfastly declined to fight. Saturday's bout will determine the first unified 154-pound title-holder in 29 years.

Assuming Mosley wins, he plans to fight Felix Trinidad in the fall, then hopes for a bout against middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins.

"There are a lot of great fighters out there, but people don't know them like they used to because there are so many problems," Mosley said. "The media talks about the problems in boxing, not what's happening with these good, young fighters, and the result is people just forget about it.

"Give them good fights on a consistent basis and, believe me, you'll see that boxing is far from dead."