Mosley: Haymon stole Staples Center for fight; Mayorga leaked it

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Shane MosleyIt seems like everyone is blaming Al Haymon these days for one thing or another, and I’m not saying he’s guilty of anything, but where there’s smoke there’s fire. Well, grab your oxygen mask because Shane Mosley, in an exclusive interview with Tha Boxing Voice’s Fernando Pimentel, stated that the Staples Center was initially being targeted for his return bout against Ricardo Mayorga on August 29th.

Now, Mosley isn’t necessarily suggesting foul play, and he understands the competitiveness that goes into promoting. After all, he is wearing multiple hats as promoter and fighter for the Mayorga clash.

This is a fairly interesting fight between two veterans of the sport. And because they are fighting each other as opposed to squaring off against a young and hungry adversary, this fight could be entertaining regardless of the significance to each man’s respected careers.

Mosley told Pimentel that he chose Mayorga based on the trash talking he’s seen on social media, and an encounter he had with the fighter from Nicaragua in Las Vegas recently.

“First off, Mayorga has been talking a lot on Twitter about how he wants to knock me out. He’s been talking trash, and I said ‘you know what, I’m you’re huckleberry, you want to fight,’ let’s do it,” Mosley told TBV’s Pimentel.

The two conversed through a translator in Vegas, and after that encounter Mosley put in a call to Mayorga’s manager and proposed the matchup. Acting as the promoter, it was easy for Mosley to finalize the negotiations.

The issue with the Staples Center revolves around a scheduled bout between two of California’s most prominent featherweights in Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares, which is tentatively scheduled for a PBC on ESPN broadcast.

When the date for Mosley-Mayorga was announced, many speculated that it would somehow be involved with the Santa Cruz-Mares bout, perhaps the co-feature. In fact, some news outlets jumped the gun and reported such news, but anyone with specific knowledge of the inner workings in today’s boxing market knew that it was never the case.

Mosley responded to the claims by reminding us of his lineage in the sport and affirming his status based on his past legacy.

“I’m not going to be a co-main event to anybody. I’m bigger than a co-main event. I’m ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley, come on. I fought all these big time events.”

As it stands, there is no set venue for the fight, but it could potentially land at the Forum although Las Vegas is still an option. Mosley, who isn’t casting blame on Haymon quite the same way Golden Boy Promotions’ owner Oscar De La Hoya and Top Rank’s Bob Arum are, says that he believes Haymon struck first on the date for Santa Cruz-Mares based on early rumblings for his fight with Mayorga.

“PBC actually went and stole my spot at the Staples Center because I was thinking about going to the Staples Center at first. I think Mayorga might’ve leaked it a little early, and Al Haymon or somebody came in and grabbed my date at the Staples Center. But I was actually in communications with the Staples Center before, I don’t know. Things are kind of weird.”

For Mosley, the Staples Center was a priority based on sentiment because he opened up the arena with Oscar De La Hoya in June of 2000, and he actually set an attendance record at the Staples Center when he fought Antonio Margarito in 2009, a record which still stands to this date.