Shane Mosley Jnr wants to fight WBA middleweight titleholder Erislandy Lara, though not out of spite or any form of animosity. Mosley wants to fight Lara because he believes Lara is the best.
Mosley, 34, fought just once in 2024, defeating former titleholder Daniel Jacobs in July by unanimous decision.
Now training in Las Vegas, Mosley, 22-4 (12 KOs), has his eyes set on the titles. The current titleholders are Janibek Alimkhanuly (IBF and WBO); Carlos Adames (WBC), who fights Hamzah Sheeraz on the February 22 mega-card in Saudi Arabia; and Lara.
Mosley wants to target the man he sees as the most established fighter.
“He is the legend in my division,” Mosley Jnr told BoxingScene. “When you hear Canelo [Saul Alvarez] talk about all the people that he beat, talking about skills that he had beat, and stuff like that, he was talking about Erislandy Lara. He [Canelo] brought him up in his last fight with Berlanga, right?”
Lara lost a split decision to Alvarez in 2014, a result that is still debated to this day.
“So when you have a great fighter also refer back to another great fighter, it just shows how great he really is,” Mosley said. “So why not be a part of that?”
Mosley’s reinvention came against veteran fighters. Mosley defeated Gabriel Rosado via majority decision in 2022, which kick-started his five-fight win streak.
Lara, a 41-year-old Cuban fighter, would be yet another big-name opponent Mosley could face. Lara, 31-3-3 (19 KOs), has won all of his middleweight bouts by knockout since entering the division in 2021.
“Everybody asks me, like, ‘Why are you calling him out?’” Mosley said. “Because he’s the best, in my opinion. He’s the one that has the most prestige. I want to go after that guy. When I beat him, they can say, ‘Holy shit, you beat who? You beat him. Wow, that’s dope.’”
Mosley, the son of legendary fighter Shane Mosley Snr, a multi-division titleholder, is now looking to make his own path.
“I want to be a legend,” Mosley Jnr said. “I want to be somebody great. I want to give back to the sport. This sport has given me everything, my whole entire life.”
Mosley is from a family of boxers. Boxing is all he does. Boxing is what he loves. And his infectious love of the sport resonates deeply.
“This support has given me everything,” Mosley said. “Why not give my very best to the sport, and that is why I want this fight is because of that reason.”
Mosley added a personal note to his call out of Lara.
“I have been calling him out for years,” Mosley said. “I don’t know what to say other than, ‘Does he not want to fight me?’”
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