THEY WERE spraying water on his arms to simulate sweat, which was a joke in itself because Sugar Shane Mosley has never given anything less than a genuinely hard effort in his life.
But this was a photo shoot, not a boxing match, and for an hour at least, Mosley was willing to go along with the deception.
“You can get used to this kind of work,” Mosley said with a grin, well aware that he had only qualified for this day at the beach – there was a pink bikini on his left arm, a black bikini on his right – because of 36 minutes of incredibly hard work put
in against Oscar De La Hoya last month.
Mosley was at a Chelsea rag factory yesterday to have his picture taken for a menswear line that had the foresight to gamble on his chances against De La Hoya, and on the marketing appeal of a boxer.
“There’s not going to be much more of this for me,” Mosley said. “Boxing is my number one priority, and it’s going to stay that way. Or else, I’ll get out.”
Then again, the number of endorsement deals that come Shane Mosley’s way is likely to be outside his control.
Most advertisers shun boxers the way vampires avoid the sun. Boxing can thank the bad taste left in the world’s mouth by the likes of Mike Tyson and Don King and the IBF, but Mosley is the kind of kid advertisers should flock to.
“He’s young and he’s cute,” said the breathless spokeswoman for the clothing line. “He’s got that happening-now, modern attractiveness. He’s fresh and he’s exciting. It’s nice to be associated with someone on his way up.”
Mosley is on the way up, at least in the narrow sliver of the world that still follows the cult sport known as professional boxing.
Undoubtedly, he is on a path diametrically opposed to that of De La Hoya, a former star now most assuredly on the way down.
But outside of boxing, does anybody really know who Shane Mosley is? Does anybody really care?
“You can’t imagine how tough it was to get a sponsor for this guy,” said Jacob Koo, who has been trying to market Mosley. “Boxing is not something that corporations want to align themselves with.”
In the case of Mosley, the WBA welterweight champ, it is not only his loss, but theirs. And yours.
Mosley’s stirring June 17 victory over De La Hoya at the Staples Center should have been the kind of performance that catapults an athlete to crossover stardom.
And yet, with the exception of a brief photo session yesterday-for which Mosley was not even paid – he has yet to cash in on one of the finest boxing lessons administered to a former world champion in years.
Instead, we get an underwear model like Anna Kournikova on the cover of a national magazine, and borderline felons like Latrell Sprewell with a meaty sneaker contract, a playoff flop like Vince Carter being touted as the next Michael Jordan.
Meanwhile, Shane Mosley, perhaps the world’s most talented boxer and arguably one of the finest examples of young manhood in professional sports, has been kicking around New York City for the past month in virtual anonymity.
“I’ve had a great time since I’ve been here,” said Mosley, a native of Pomona, Calif., who has been living in a midtown hotel with his girlfriend, nine-year-old son Little Shane, and two nephews for the month of July. “I spent my whole vacation in the city. I got to see the Fourth of July fireworks. I was hanging in the Hamptons for a while. I’ve been playing hoops at an outdoor court in Queens. I have a lot of friends here.”
And yet, until today, Shane Mosley’s face had yet to turn up in any of the local newspapers. His name hasn’t made it into the gossip columns, which feature a daily slate of frauds, self-promoters, has-beens and characters famous simply for being famous.
Yesterday, not another reporter, sports or otherwise, ventured over to 11th Avenue for a few minutes with the champ. No TV trucks were in sight. Mosley’s entry to the building was unimpeded by autograph hounds. There was no need for bodyguards or an entourage.
It was just Mosley, his son, and his representative. Mosley’s promoter, Cedric Kushner, was not even aware his fighter was in town. Even Mosley’s father/manager, Jack, stayed behind in Pomona.
“I don’t need a lot of people around me,” said Mosley. “And I’m not looking to be seen all over the place. I’m not greedy. I’ve got enough money now to be self-sufficient, to live the way I want and provide for my family the way I would like to.”
Mosley was paid $4 million to De La Hoya’s $10 million for their fight, numbers that might well be reversed if the two ever meet in a contractually-mandated rematch.
But news out of De La Hoya’s camp yesterday indicated that rather than go through with an October rematch, the erstwhile Golden Boy would take the rest of 2000 off to market his upcoming CD, and the feeling is, if the record takes off, so too could De La Hoya. From boxing, that is.
That would cheat Mosley out of a well-deserved windfall, because in the great boxing tradition, fighters customarily get paid tomorrow for what they did yesterday.
Although it remains to be seen if Sugar has become as valuable a commodity as gold, there is no doubt that Mosley-De La Hoya II would be by far Mosley’s biggest payday.
“I believe we’re going to fight again, maybe in January,” Mosley said. “And I believe I’m going to do the same thing in the second fight. But if he never fights me again, I wouldn’t feel cheated. That fight was never about money to me, anyway. I earned what I set out to earn in that fight, the glory of the victory.”
It’s refreshing to see that for some athletes, a concept as pure and simple as glory is still enough.
And you can’t fake it. Or, at least, Shane Mosley can’t.
