Shane Mosley: I feel like this is the beginning of my new career!

Thanks to Ben "TheHype" Thompson at top boxing website Fighthype, I was able to have a nice chat with Former three division champion Sugar Shane Mosley in the Fighthype chatroom session that took place yesterday. Mosley shared his thoughts on training camp for his September 27 date with Ricardo Mayorga, as well as where he feels he stands in the welterweight landscape!

Bryan B-Money Bradley: Sugar Shane welcome to the Fighthype chat! I've been a fan of yours for many years. Against Cotto this past November, I thought you deserved a draw at the very worst. How has training been going for the Mayorga fight and are you ready to deal with any foul play he might have to offer?

Shane Mosley: Workouts are going great. I'm in tremendous shape. I feel like I'm two to three times better than I was against Cotto. It's funny to say, but I feel like this is the beginning of my new career.

Bryan B-Money Bradley: Shane, there's no question the welterweight division is the hottest division in boxing. You're clearly one of it's top contenders. We see fans and media already labeling Margarito as the king of the welterweights (prematurely, I feel); they forget that Paul Williams beat him 13 months ago and that loss has gone unavenged by Margarito. Do you feel he needs to beat Williams to earn that distinction?

Shane Mosley: I feel he needs to beat me to earn that. Styles makes fights and Paul has the style for Margarito.

Bryan B-Money Bradley: Shane, do feel Mayorga makes it the distance?

Shane Mosley: No!

Bryan B-Money Bradley: woooo hoooooo!

Bryan B-Money Bradley: Shane, you are a fighter who keeps his boxing life professional and clean. You stay in the gym, work out, stay in shape, and have pretty hardcore training camps from what I hear and read. What do you make of Mayorga's out of the ring habits such as the smoking and drinking? That's crazy!

Shane Mosley: I think alot of it is an act. I think he smoke a little bit because he puffs a cigarette too well not to smoke. I'm not innocent I take a sip on my off time, but my cleanness will be the difference.

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The opportunity to chat with Sugar Shane was truly a pleasure of mine. I was about to ask him for clarification as to whether or not the rumors regarding a third fight with Oscar De la hoya were indeed true, but he was leaving the chatroom at that point. Shane is class act, as well as the type of fighter who is easy to root for. In terms of where he stands in the welterweight division, I think he is still one of the elite contenders in that weight class. However, Margarito just stopped Cotto and Mosley dropped a very close and questionable decision to Cotto this past November and hasn't fought since that time. In this boxing observer's opinion, the guy whom Margarito needs to fight to validate his claim as the universally recognized welterweight champion of the world is Paul Williams, the man who beat him 13 months ago.