Two boxers announced their retirement on Monday (June 4). Winky Wright revealed he was hanging up his gloves at 40 years old, and now, "Sugar" Shane Mosley is doing the same. Ironically, he's 40 as well.
After Mosley was dominated by 21-year-old junior middleweight titlist Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (who is the same age as Mosley's oldest son) on May 5th in Las Vegas, the boxing legend joked with HBO's Larry Merchant during his post-fight interview that, "When the kids start to beat you up, you might have to start promoting."
A month later, on Monday, he called it quits, announcing the news via Twitter (@SugarShaneM).
"Good morning everybody. Just want to thank you for showing me so much love," Mosley tweeted. "Had a great career and loved every moment of it, win, lose or draw."
He later spoke with ESPN.com, confirming the comments, ending his 19-year career in boxing.
"I'm going to leave it alone," Mosley told ESPN.com. "I'm good. I'm going into the promotional world, I'm training my son [21-year-old amateur Shane Mosley Jr.]. It was a helluva career. I'm happy for all the great memories and all the great fighters that I fought. Now it's time give back. I'm ready to train my son full-time now."
He said he made the decision after losing to Alvarez, realizing he's aged and cannot compete at the level he could when he was younger.
"That's life, that's getting older," Mosley explained. "When you get older, you see what happens. You think you can do things. You see stuff that you think you can do, that you want to do, but you just can't do it anymore."
Mosley leaves boxing with a 46-8-1 record (39 KOs), during which he won five world titles in three weight classes, and in the early 2000s was widely considered the #1 fighter in the world.
The boxer was known for not ducking fights. In the late 1990s, he became the lightweight champ and defended the title eight times. By 2000, he moved to welterweight and landed a fight with then-champion Oscar De La Hoya, which he won via decision ... and it shot him into boxing super stardom.
"That 2000 fight with Oscar was huge for me," Mosley tells ESPN. "He gave me the opportunity when he didn't have to and I thank him for that. Everything from there was gravy for me."
The final win of Mosley's career was a TKO victory over Antonio Margarito in 2009. He went 0-3-1 in his final four fights, including megafights against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, both of whom beat him with ease.
A year to the day after the Pac-Man fight, Mosley returned and was defeated by Alvarez.
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