12.02.7 – By Ricardo Lois, Boxingconfidential.com: Shane Mosley defeated Luis Collazo rather easily Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas Nevada. Maybe I overrated Collazo, or maybe Mosley is just that damned good even at age 35. Who knows? I do know I am not any sort of boxing prophet.
What I do know is that when an attention deprived fighter like Luis Collazo gets a national platform to go against a legend like Shane Mosley, he should leave it all, every single ounce of sweat, inside the ring. Collazo fought with no urgency in the fight, allowing Mosley to dictate the action on way to a unanimous decision. (I will note that the loser now claims he injured his right hand in training and reinjured it in the third round but that has the ring of a loser’s excuse.)..
My hat is off to “Sugar” Shane who now puts himself in a nice position to fight the winner of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr, assuming that Mayweather wins and does not retire. Remember the teary-eyed Mayweather announced the De La Hoya event would be his last fight to the national boxing press core after his defeat of Carlos Baldomir.
In a boxing Utopia, Mosley could go to New York City on June 9 and battle Miguel Cotto, in what would be a dandy of a fight. It would even give Super Mom Jin Mosley a chance to vacation in her old NYC stomping grounds.
Unfortunately, the beef between De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and Bob Arum’s Top Rank, will likely not allow a fight between Cotto (Top Rank) and Mosley (Golden Boy)
Call me skeptic, in the Jin Mosley mini-documentary prior to the Mosley vs. Collazo fight, did any one else think to themselves, “The Mosley’s are millionaires, why don’t they hire a Salvadorian nanny like every other millionaire does in Southern California?”
Vivian Harris Successful, But is Out a Manager? – The boxing rumor mill was spinning, before Vivian Harris’ lackluster decision victory over Juan Lazcano. My insider source claims that Vivian Harris, win, lose, or draw, was going to be let go, cut off, nixed, etc, et, all, by up and coming manager/promoter Jose Nuñez.
Nuñez has a good thing going managing super featherweight standout Joan Guzman and promoting government sponsored shows in the Dominican Republic. The constant drama a fighter like Vivian Harris brings to the table might have been more than Nuñez can put up with.
In the ring, Harris either could not or would not be content in fighting from the outside, where he easily controlled Lazcano. It was fairly apparent that Harris has outgrown junior welterweight and needs to give up the pointless struggle to make weight in an attempt to win a meaningless WBC trinket against Junior Witter.
What I would like to see is promoter Gary Shaw, push Harris into a fight with another one of his promotees, Diego Corrales. I am not sure who is more stubborn in the ring, but a fight between Corrales and Harris has barnburner written all over it.
The Black Panther Wins Again, But I Stand Tall – Boxing enigma Juan Carlos Gomez knocked out Adilson Rodrigues in the first round in Germany to capture the WBC Latino heavyweight title.
Maybe this is the championship that Gomez referred to when he told me several times during early 2006, “I want to win a championship, that is my only goal.” This was months before Gomez became upset with me for writing a report of his using and abusing a big time investor.
During our last conversation Gomez warned me, “I know where you live and am going to pay you a visit.”
I am still waiting Juan Carlos. I would love to have a discussion with you about the great talent you possess as a boxer, but what a horrible decision maker you are. We are both of Cuban origin and I think it would be a monumental achievement if you captured the heavyweight championship and you do have the skill to reach the top.
Unfortunately, Gomez seems to like spending more than his share of time in strip clubs, bars, and clubs. Making matters worse, he is not an astute business man and surrounds himself with less than reputable boxing people, setting aside those who care for him and have the know how to make things happen.
After the fight Gomez stated that he is gunning for Wladimir Klitschko, I will make sure to send the memo to Shelly Finkel, where he can dispose of it in the circular file.
Give Golden Boy an A for Juarez ‘s Handling — Rocky Juarez returned on Friday night destroying career “also ran” Emmanuel Lucero via fifth round technical knock-out. Commend Golden Boy for putting Juarez’s return fight, after back to back losses at the hands of Marco Antonio Barrera, on Telefutura instead of HBO or Showtime.
Fighting on a smaller platform allowed Juarez to just prepare and fight, instead of having to answer dozens of questions of his future after the losses to Barrera and Humberto Soto.
As for his future, if I ran Juarez ‘s career, and I do not since my name is not Shelly Finkel or Richard Schaefer, I would keep him on Telefutura one more fight and keep my fingers crossed that Juan Manuel Marquez beats Barrera. Then, Golden Boy can arrange for Marquez vs. Juarez, because Barrera v. Juarez III ain’t gonna be Marco’s swan song in September.