Mayweather-Mosley announcement imminent
An announcement of a welterweight fight between unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. and World Boxing Association champion Shane Mosley for May 1 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena is imminent.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said Thursday that "all major deal points have been agreed upon" for the bout that is the biggest that can currently be made in boxing.
Schaefer had been working with Top Rank's Bob Arum to put together a bout between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in a match that would have pitted the top two fighters in the world.
When that match fell apart over a dispute over a drug testing protocol, Schaefer turned his attention to arranging a Mayweather-Mosley bout. While it doesn't have quite the cachet of a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout, it still will pit the Nos. 2 and 3 ranked fighters in the most recent Yahoo! Sports ratings.
"I hope to have something to announce in the next few days," Schaefer said.
Mosley has agreed to the Olympic-style random blood and urine testing that Pacquiao balked at and which eventually scuttled the bout. Mosley admitted in sworn grand jury testimony that he used two designer steroids, "The Cream" and "The Clear," as well as EPO prior to a 2003 fight with Oscar De La Hoya. He alleges he took the substances unknowingly.
Mosley had been slated to fight World Boxing Council champion Andre Berto on Friday at Mandalay Bay, but that fight was canceled earlier this month. Berto is of Haitian descent and has much family in Haiti and felt he couldn't properly prepare in the aftermath of the disastrous Jan. 12 earthquake in the island nation.
A news conference to kick off the Mayweather-Mosley fight will likely be held in New York, perhaps as early as next week.
