For Shane Mosley, it wasn't supposed to be like this.
Fresh off a win over Antonio Margarito in January, the sky seemed to be the limit for Mosley. He had just beaten the man many expected to be too much for him. Mosley not only beat Margarito, he dominated him. After the fight, such names as Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao were all thrown out as possible opponents.
Months later, Mosley is still without an opponent for his next fight. He's tried and failed to land big fights, even going so far as to hire a PR firm and release an endless stream of press releases. He has agreed to give Pacquaio a 60 percent purse split to make that fight happen.
He's also announced he will go as low as 143 pounds to secure the fight. Still, Bob Arum has shown little interest in pairing Pacquaio with Mosley. Now that Pacquaio has signed on to face Cotto later this year, Mosley will have to wait at least until next spring to get a crack at either guy.
As for Mayweather, he has all but dismissed any potential fight with Mosley. In separate interviews he has called Mosley a cheater, an old manand not a marketable fighter. Mayweather also claims Mosley ducked him during the late-1990s, when both were up-and-coming prospects.
Mayweather's next fight is Sept. 19 against Juan Manuel Marquez. With a win, Mayweather appears to be angling himself for a potential clash with Pacquiao, should Pacquiao defeat Cotto. At best, Mosley's earliest chance of landing a Mayweather fight would be next summer.
At this juncture it seems he will have to look to fighters not named Pacquaio or Mayweather if he is going to fight again this year. Paul Williams is a name being thrown around, but that shouldn't be Mosley's first choice. The tall, lanky southpaw would likely give Mosley more fight than he bargained for at age 37. Williams also might be unavailable, as he is in negotiations with several other fighters, including Kelly Pavlik and Sergei Dzindziruk.
