You wouldn’t know it by looking at him (or hearing the familiar ring of his name), but Shane Mosley Jr. – very nearly the spitting image of his Hall of Fame father – came up the hard way in boxing.
At Wednesday’s virtual press conference for Mosley’s fight July 6 showdown against former middleweight titleholder Daniel Jacobs at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California – which featured Mosley Sr. as one of the guests – it seemed to be a point Mosley Jr. wanted to make crystal clear to all:
I’ve earned this.
“I’m already standing alone, man,” Mosley Jr. said. “I’m appreciative of my dad. I love him. I thank him for everything that I have. I thank him for my mindset. I thank him for the life that he’s given me, I thank him for everything. He’s responsible for a lot and luckily he was in my life and he was able to show me that a man could do great things when he put his mind to it. And all those are great things, but I stand alone, baby. I did this all myself, by myself. I got into this game for me. I got into this because I love this sport and I love what I do. And I want to make a legacy and a life in this of my own.”
A cynic might try to frame the 33-year-old Mosley Jr. (21-4, 12 KOs) as some sort of nepo baby, but after reaching his 10-year professional anniversary in April, he continues to build a respectable career for himself and, slowly but surely, rise to quiet challenges along the way.
Mosley Jr.’s four defeats have come in step-up fights in which he was, almost without fail, competitive. Moreover, he seemed to learn, process and grow from each of them. A four-round split decision loss to Marchristopher Adkins in his third fight set the table for an eight-win streak. Another SD defeat, against David Toussaint, was followed by three more wins. A wide unanimous decision loss to Brandon Adams in 2018 might have been the end for a novelty act, but Mosley Jr. returned with a first-round knockout and three more victories. Nipped by majority decision against future title challenger Jason Quigley in 2021, Mosley Jr. immediately bounced back to overcome a veteran contender in Gabriel Rosado.
Mosley Jr. points out that he was offered a choice: fight for a belt in a matchup with a current titleholder or take a shot at a fighter he believes has already cemented a Hall of Fame legacy.
“I got the call to fight either Carlos Adames or Danny Jacobs,” Mosley Jr. said. “Guess who I said? Danny Jacobs. Because guess what? If I go to a crowd of people and say, ‘Hey, I’m fighting Carlos Adames,’ they go, ‘Who’s that?’ If I go, ‘Hey, I’m about to fight Danny Jacobs,’ they go, ‘Oh, really? You about to fight Danny Jacobs?’ So who do I want to fight? Yeah, one is middleweight champion of the world. But one is a legend.”
The not-so-chance meeting comes at what may be a perfect time for both fighters. Mosley Jr., who doesn’t possess the fistfulls of dynamite his father once fought with, might not have had enough for a prime Jacobs. Yet the current version of “The Miracle Man” should find Mosley Jr. – now a fully realized fighter – to be an excellent litmus test for his near-term fighting prospects.
For his part, Mosley Sr. says the best fighters have one crucial tool, and he believes his son has it.
“It’s the mentality – it’s not just speed, power, whatever they possess [physically],” Mosley Sr. said. “It’s actually the mentality and how they approach the fight.
“You can see that his mind is a lot different from most of the other fighters. He has a different mindset, and he’s ready to be the world champion. He’s ready to be a great fighter.”
In any case, the younger Mosley can’t hide his excitement over the upcoming challenge. He clearly relishes the opportunity to measure himself against Jacobs, and recalled Wednesday about being asked recently whether he thought his opponent – who has been out of the ring for almost two and a half years – was returning for a cash grab or an ego boost against “a scrub.” Mosley Jr. insisted that he hoped not, because he wants the best that Jacobs still has to offer him.
“He’s already a legend,” Mosley Jr. said. “And if I come out victorious, I did my best … I gained that experience, I gained that knowledge, 100 percent, how do you not become better? How do you not become more after that?”