"When the kids start beating you up, it may be time to start promoting." Sugar Shane Mosley, after the 40-year-old veteran's loss to 21-year-old WBC junior middleweight titleholder Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.
Five-time, three-division titleholder Sugar Shane Mosley will follow his own advice. The 40-year-old resident of Pomona, Calif., has announced his retirment from boxing with a mark of 46-8-1 that includes 39 knockouts.
Mosley will now pursue the promotional aspects, beginning with the amateur career of his 21-year-old son, Shane Mosley Jr., according to the fighter's longtime friend, Hassan Abdulrahim.
"Shane Mosley has officially retired, and he's going to go into the promotional side of the sport. Shane is going to be working with his son, who has a promising amateur career," said Abdulrahim, who serves as Mosley's camp coordinator.
"I think that his son is going to fight as an amateur for a few more years and build up his record a little bit and maybe even try to go to the 2016 Olympics, and then look to turn pro after that."
Although he is 0-3-1 in his past four bouts, Mosley's career was marked by a reputation for facing the best in the sport and for being in exciting fights.
Mosley's career-highs included a pair of victories over Oscar De La Hoya and a ninth-round knockout of Antonio Margarito, who was stopped for the first time in his career.
Until losing by unanimous decision to 21-year-old junior middleweight beltholder Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, Mosley, who turns 41 in September, had gone unbeaten in 21 bouts against fighters of Mexican decent.
Mosley's losses included two-each to Winky Wright and the late Vernon Forrest, and to Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto.
The second win over De La Hoya was at junior middleweight, as were the losses to to Wright and the draw with former titleholder, Sergio Mora.
Mosley, who never has been stopped, demonstrated perhaps the most heart in his first loss to Forrest, getting up after having been floored twice and nearly stopped in the second round.
Mosley's last victory was the triumph over Margarito before a record crowd at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The loss to Cotto, notwithstanding, Mosley has performed well against Latino fighters.
In addition to the Margarito and De La Hoya victories -- the second time for both the WBC's and WBA's junior middleweight belts in September of 2003 -- Mosley scored consecutive knockouts over Fernando Vargas in 2006, and stopped Ricardo Mayorga in 2008.
"Shane Mosley is legendary, and he knows that for him, it's do or die," said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer. "But he feels very comfortable fighting Hispanic fighters. All of his biggest victories have come against Hispanic fighters."
Mosley also has beaten world titleholders Jesse James Leija, John John Molina, Phillip Holiday and Luis Collazo, knocking out out Leija and Molina.
Mosley decisioned Holiday in his 24th fight for the IBF lightweight crown in August of 1997. In April of 1999, Mosley defended that title for the eighth and final time with an eighth-round knockout of John Brown.
Mosley then skipped over the junior welterweight division and scored consecutive 147-pound stoppages over Wilfredo Rivera and Willy Wise before earning a split-decision victory over De La Hoya in June of 2000 to win the WBC welterweight belt.
In the aftermath of his controversial rematch victory over De La Hoya, Mosley admitted that he injected performance-enhancing substances, "the cream" and "the clear," but said that he did so unknowingly after having been supplied the drugs by BALCO founder, Victor Conte, through a relationship with his former strength trainer, Daryl Hudson.
to one of the best to do it in our generation. Glad that he retired. It was getting quite embarrassing to see him go out like that in his last few bouts.
