Shane Mosley Retires

Shane Mosley retires

On the heels of his rival Winky Wright retiring on Monday, former three division world champion Shane Mosley followed suit in announcing his retirement on Monday.

“Good morning everybody. Just want to thank you for showing me so much love,” Mosley tweeted. “Had a great career and loved every moment of it, win, lose or draw.”

“I’m going to leave it alone,” Mosley, 40, told ESPN.com of fighting. “I’m good. I’m going into the promotional world, I’m training my son [21-year-old amateur Shane Mosley Jr.]. It was a helluva career. I’m happy for all the great memories and all the great fighters that I fought. Now it’s time give back. I’m ready to train my son full-time now.”

“That’s life, that’s getting older,” he said. “When you get older, you see what happens. You think you can do things. You see stuff that you think you can do, that you want to do, but you just can’t do it anymore.”

“I have to credit a lot of those wins to [the late] Genaro Hernandez and Zack Padilla,” Mosley said. “They were both world champions fighters and they sparred with me every day and molded me into the fighter I was. So did my father [Jack, who also trained him for most of his career]. I owe a lot to him.

“Being recognized as pound-for-pound, especially when Roy Jones was there at that time, was an honor. To be considered in the same breath as Roy was great for me. Not many people can say they were the pound-for-pound best, but I’m one of those people.”

“I remember [then-HBO boxing chief] Lou DiBella wasn’t very happy with the Holiday fight,” Mosley said. “I was under the weather for that fight and he told me he didn’t like the fight. I told Lou if there’s anyone you feel can beat me at lightweight, put ’em in front of me because I don’t want to have the belt if I’m not the best.”

“I always wanted to knock guys out. It was a mindset that I had when I tuned pro — knock everybody out and it’s never going to a decision,” Mosley said.

“That 2000 fight with Oscar was huge for me,” Mosley said. “He gave me the opportunity when he didn’t have to and I thank him for that. Everything from there was gravy for me.”

“I have no regrets in my boxing career. Vernon was a great fighter and I was ready to fight anybody,” Mosley said. “I gave Vernon that big chance because I got that big chance against Oscar. Vernon Forrest needed the chance and I said, ‘Let me give him the opportunity.’ I did the same thing with Winky Wright, who was a lot bigger than me. But I said let’s do it. No regrets.

Mosley invoked his immediate rematch right against Forrest and while the second fight six months was more competitive, Forrest won another unanimous decision. Mosley then moved up to junior middleweight and, in his second fight in the division, challenged champion De La Hoya in a big-money rematch. Mosley won a controversial decision and two title belts, although it came to light later that he testified before a grand jury that he had used BALCO mastermind Victor Conte’s undetectable steroids “the clear” and “the cream” during his training.

Mosley has said all along that he was unaware that what he took was illegal and that it was given to him by former conditioning coach Darryl Hudson. “I wasn’t aware that it was ‘the clear’ or ‘the cream’ or other such craziness,” Mosley said. “If I knew it was illegal I wouldn’t have taken it. I’ve always lived my life clean. That whole situation made me upset and still has me upset to this day.

“I’m still upset with the people I had around me that led me into that. I was always a clean boxer. Never tested positive for anything. For them not to protect me — Darryl Hudson — it sickened me. In 2003, he put a blemish on me. He led me to something that wasn’t good. It wasn’t like I asked for it. I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t need it.”

“Margarito was pretty big, especially with all the things going on in my life at the time,” Mosley said. “It was a big victory to be able to go out there and dominate and then knock him out.”

“My son is getting older. He’s 21 and after I fought ‘Canelo,’ I thought about that he was 21 and I thought I should spent more time training my son, getting the new generation ready,” said Mosley, who said he will also spend time trying to get his Sugar Shane Promotions off the ground.

“I hope they remember me as a great fighter, a great person and somebody that cares about boxing,” Mosley said. “I hope they remember that I loved to fight. It’s been fun.”