ugar Shane Mosley and Winky Wright have had nothing but the deepest respect for each other as they became the top men in boxing’s 154-pound division.

And it will show even more when they meet in a heavy-hyped unification world championship bout that calls for just one fighter to be undisputed on Saturday, Mar.13 in the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

For Mosley, 31, it’s a 2-to-1 package as the slick power puncher out of Pomona, Calif., risks his WBC/ WBA super welterweight titles against Wright, 29, the IBF junior middleweight monarch defending from St. Petersburg, Fla., with HBO televising the scheduled 12-round bout live at 9:30 P.M. ET/ 6:30. P.M. PT.

Declared “The War at 154”, the official kickoff of the much-anticipated showdown was Jan.13 in the newly-created Caffe Giorgio in the Mandalay Place with dedicated valet parking.

The multi-promotion includes Gary Shaw Productions, LLC and Pound-for-Pound Promotions in
association with Square Ring.

“Mosley-Wright is the biggest fight in the junior middleweight division. The minute Sugar Shane won the world super welterweight crown, Team Mosley boldly announced it would only seek out the biggest fights available,” Shaw declared.

“In the past it seemed that everyone has had an excuse for not fighting Sugar Shane or Winky. But when the opportunity presented itself to fight for the undisputed championship,Sugar Shane and Winky offered not excuses, but pens to sign their contracts. This super fight belongs to Mandalay Bay, which has hosted the most memorable fights in the history of boxing.

Tony Alamo, (vice-president of Mandalay Resort Group) deserves all the credit for bringing the fight to one of Las Vegas’ most magnificent venues.”

Mosley enhanced his awesome resume now at 39-2, 35 KOs last Sept.13 when he won his third title in as many weight classes with a controversial 12-round decision for Oscar De La Hoya’s WBC 154-pound award after taking the 147-pound crown in June,2000 in Los Angeles.

The pride of Pomona gained his first IBF135-pound title in 1997 and made eight knockout defenses before jumping two divisions to dominate the welterweights.

“I have to be proud of my accomplishments. Most
important, nobody has def eated De La Hoya twice.And how many fighters can boast three world championships in that many different weight classes? As for my trophy case, I want the undisputed 154-pound belt. I like to think history is always a little sweeter if you add some Sugar to it.”

Roy Jones, Jr., the WBA heavyweight champ among his string that includes the middleweight, super
middleweight, and lightheavyweight titles, is also Wright’s promoter and deeply proud of this Washington, D.C. native.

“I’m very happy over Winky’s patience and surge, especially that he has finally been given a defining fight that he has waited so long for. I have been in enough big fights to know they don’t come any bigger than this one, especially in the 154-pound division. I’m glad I’m promoting Winky and I have to admit that Mosley has a lot of guts stepping into the same ring with Winky Wright.”

Wright has travelled far and wide to fashion his 46-3, 25 KOs credentials. He is in the third year of his second tour as a world champion. Checking his record, 42 percent of his total fights have been on foreign turf. Wright has fought as a pro in eight different countries and four different Continents.

Winky took his first title in 1996 when he beat Bronko McKart to take the WBO junior middleweight title in Detroit. After three defenses in England, he lost the crown to South Africa’s Harry Simon. The decision was called a draw but after a scoring error, Simon was voted the winner.

After losing a controversial decision to then-IBF
junior middleweight champion Fernando Vargas in 1999, Wright rebounded and won the IBF crown vacated by Felix Trinidad in 2001, making four title defenses.

Wright, who has been training briskly under Dan Birmingham in St.Petersburg, Fla., is on Cloud Nine as the big night approaches in the Valley of the Dollars.

“I’m sure that the public has been waiting for this fight and will be talking about it for a long time as Shane Mosley and me make boxing history. Shane and me are the only two people in the division who are man enough to risk it all to become undisputed world champion. I’ve offered the same thing to De La Hoya and Vargas, now they are on the sidelines where they belong.”

Don’t ask me to pick a winner today, I want a little
time before making the plunge......

“PROFESSOR’ IN HALL....Ghana’s Azumah “The Professor” Nelson, a three-time world champion, headed the list among 15 candidates elected this week to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y. The new candidates will be inducted June 13.

Nelson, with a 38-5-2, 28 KOs log, won the first of two titles Dec.8,1984 when he TKO’d Wilfredo Gomez in the 11th round to win the WBC featherweight crown
in San Juan, P.R.

The clever African made his American debut July 21, 1982 in Madison Square Garden when he challenged the ill-fated Salvador Sanchez for the WBC featherweight crown. Sanchez scored a TKO late in the 15th round and it was his last bout, being killed a week later in a car crash as he returned to Mexico City.

Besides Nelson, other fighters elected included Carlos Palomino, Dwight Muhammad, Qawi, Daniel Zaragoza, Baby Arizmendi, Young Corbett III, Jackie Fields, Willie Ritchie, and Billy Edwards.

Others voted in were referee Stanley Christodoulou, promoter J. Russell Peltz, fight managers Umberto Branchini, and Lou Viscousi, and writers W.C. Heinz and Barney Nagler.....

TITO DUE?...Where have you heard this before? Felix “Tito” Trinidad reportedly is thinking about
returning to the ring. Since he has learned to speak English, the former five-time world champion has personally told me three times he is happy as a viewer at ringside.

Trinidad hasn’t fought since Sept., 2001 when he lost his middleweight crown to Bernard Hopkins on a 12th round TKO in Madison Square Garden.

The big two who would like to see Tito up there punching away again are promoter Don King and Oscar De La Hoya, who still has an obsession about a rematch with Trinidad that King and Bob Arum couldn’t put together. Right now King is saying “no comment”, but that could change before the next sunrise.

If anybody cares, the Golden Boy and his lovely wife are only minutes away as neighbors to the Trinidads, whose last rumor on his weight is 190 pounds but nothing was confirmed.....

LURIE A RAP:.....There were a lot of ringsiders who went home disappointed this week when they heard Art Lurie, 85 years young, was retiring as a
ringside judge.

Lurie started as a referee in 1953 and switched to judging fights in 1956. He also was a member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission for four terms. The white-haired Las Vegas native, always in dapper attire, estimated he has judged over 200 fights including some of the sport’s greats like Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Ken Norton, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Mike Tyson, Roberto Duran, Jimmy Young, and Sugar Ray Leonard.

Perhaps Lurie’s most memorial fight arrived at the Las Vegas Hilton Feb.15,1978 when Leon Spinks, in his eighth pro fight, posted a huge upset with a 15-round split decision over Muhammad Ali.

“I voted for Ali 145-144 while Lou Tabat and Harold Buck voted for Spinks. I felt I had the right score that night but a lot of fans got on me for some time. Some even gave me a white cane which is reserved for blind people. For a long time, I had it in my bar on Sahara. Lots of people came in to see it.”

(Jack Welsh, a syndicated columnist headquartered
in Las Vegas and a regular contributor to Ringsports.com and other fine websites).