Jack Welsh
www.ringsports.com

Making new resolutions about improving one’s character is a fun game people play when the New Year arrives. Taken with a grain of salt, no harm i done if a declaration is broken within 24 hours, usually the rule, not the exception.

However, during the recent Yule holiday season, I ran into a proposition that is as good as Fort Knox gold-----Sugar Shane Mosley will not seek to regain his welterweight crown in 2003.

Nothing startling about this bulletin except the power puncher from Pomona, Ca., feels his immediate future is in the super-welterweight division while Vernon Forrest, who beat him twice in the last12 months for the WBC title, is remaining at 147 to unify the division’s champions.

Mosley and Forrest are both fighting within the month, the latter with a title defense while the former debuts at 154 pounds against a former champion.

However, when it comes to mega-bucks, Mosley is in the immediate driver’s seat if Top Rank prømoter Bob Arum can finally get Oscar De La Hoya’s signature to defend his WBC super welterweight laurels in September against only the second man ( retired Tito Trinidad the first ) to defeat the Golden Boy at 147.

De La Hoya had reminded Arum and HBO he is expecting a $13 million purse to avenge that squeaker decision loss to Mosley in June,2000. Shane reportedly isn’t too happy his cut could be a guaranteed $5 million, but there’s not another fighter on this planet he could fight and earn that kind of money.

If the personable Mosley reminds Arum “I beat Oscar, he didn’t beat me,” Top Rank’s impresario need only remind ever so politely that other than top heavyweights, De La
Hoya is boxing‘s premier box office draw.

Now that Trinidad’s retirement appears permanent, Mosley knows he is De La Hoya’s top priority in perhaps three mega fights before the latter leaves boxing next year. Sugar Shane can make all the noise he wants about money but it won’t be a serious problem once Arum has the dual 154-pound king signed for September.

Besides, Team Mosely will be getting a chance to win two championships in one effort since De La Hoya added the WBA diadem to his WBC sanction Sept.14 when he TKO’d
Fernando Vargas in 11 rounds at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the regenerated Mosley knows he could be in jeopardy with every fight he takes before that shot at De La Hoya. And that’s as good a reason as any why he isn’t looking past former IBF junior middleweight champion Raul Marquez of Houston when they meet Feb.8 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center with HBO televising.
Forrest, just about everybody’s Fighter of the Year, 2002, will be in action earlier when he faces WBA welterweight champion Ricardo Mayorga from Tijuana, Mx., Jan.25 at the
Pachanga Resørt/Casino in Temecula, Ca, in a 12-round unification bout carried by HBO.

Mosley, who has trained in snow-swept Big Bear, Ca., is enthusiastic about returning to action since July 20 when he lost a 12-round decision to Forrest in a return title bout at Indianapolis, Ind. Now 31, Mosley’s resume is 38-2, 35 KOs and he wants to revive that reputation as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters that went down the tubes with those double losses to Forrest.

“I want to show the public I can compete at 154. i haven’t lost my spirit and I think the people will see a different fighter in a heavier division. When I moved up from lightweight at 135 to 147,it made me a better fighter, and we’ll see what the sport has to offer. We’ll see what the sport has to offer. Forrest is the only fighter out there who could get away from my knockout. I applaud him for that and now you move on and fight other people,” Mosley reflected.

“I don’t think of any short cuts around Marquez, who is a veteran pro and former world champion. He has lots of experience and I don’t expect Marquez to be any different than he was as a world champion. He has been in with some great fighters, fighting former world champions like Fernando Vargas, Yori Boy Campas, Keith Mullings and Jorge Vaca. I weigh 166 right now, but I’ll have no trouble with the scales. i want to get back in the ring and stay sharp because I still have some goals and there are a lot of things I want to do besides boxing.”

Southpaw Marquez, 31, despite having only seven fights since 1998, still has solid credentials of 34-2, 23 KOs, the loses coming by such big punchers as Campas (‘97),and Vargas (‘99).

Marquez isn’t distracted that some fight buffs feel he is “ made to order for Mosley. I know how fight fans are everywhere but I can’t worry about that. I feel this is a great boxing opportunity. I feel very strong, in shape, and mentally and physically, I would never have taken this fight if I didn’t think I had a chance to beat Shane Mosley,” said the
personable native of Villahemosa, Mx.

“I feel I’m definitely stronger than Mosley and I’ve been at 154 quite a while. He’s just moving up and I should be able to rough him up inside. I’d much rather fight Shane Mosley than Bernard Hopkins, the middleweight champion, for example. Since losing to Vargas, I’ve been fighting guys at 167 to 163, winning four in a row, three by kayo, in the last two years but I’m happy to come back to 154 for this great chance. I was out or a year and a half but I came back so I could fight a guy like Shane. He still looks smaller to me and it looks like a good time to catch him. I feel my size and defense will be a factor.”

Marquez, national amateur champion at 147 and 156, turned pro in 1992 and won 28 in a row before scoring a ninth round TKO over Anthony Stephenson Apr.12, 1997 at the
Tropicana hotel-casino in Las Vegas.
Marquez came back on July 5 of ‘97 to stop Romallis Ellis in four rounds and then two months later kept the title on a split 12-round decision over ex-champ Keith Mullings in Las Vegas.

If the ambitious Marquez made one key mistake as a pro it was agreeing to defend his IBF belt against rugged Yori Boy Campas Dec.8, 1997 --- just two and one-months after his war with Stephens when deep cuts around the champion’s eyes required 70 stitches to close, plus suffering broked nasal and orbital bones.

“With Campas, it’s always a war. I was cut over both eyes in the third round and it didn’t get better. When they stopped it in the eighth round, it was still a very close fight.
One judge had it 67-66, Campas, while another had it 67-66 for me and the third guy voted it as a draw 67-67. I should have never taken that fight without giving myself time to heal,” Marquez regretted.

Mosley, with his father Jack, as trainer and manager, is making his second move to a heavier division, having given up the IBF lightweight crown after eight defenses in1999 to challenge De La Hoya.

“There definitely are more big money fights for me at154 than at 147. Besides Oscar, there’s Winky Wright, the IBF junior middleweight champ, and Daniel Santos, who has the WBO title.I have no thoughts about Vernon Forrest. I have other plans, so he’s not on my mind but down the road if there ever was a third fight, it would be Forrest coming up to 154,” said Mosley.

(Jack Welsh is a syndicated columnist headquartered in Las Vegas.)