Shane Mosley Jr. has won back-to-back bouts at the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds since he lost a 10-round majority decision to Jason Quigley in a middleweight match two years ago.
Mosley considers himself a middleweight, though, which is why he’ll meet D’Mitrius Ballard in another 10-round, 160-pound fight Saturday night at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. If Mosley beats Ballard on the Jaime Munguia-Sergiy Derevyanchenko undercard, the second-generation contender hopes to secure a middleweight title shot later this year.
The 32-year-old Mosley might be offered a fight with Munguia if the undefeated Mexican contender defeats Derevyanchenko, but Munguia considers himself a super middleweight these days, not a middleweight.
“If our paths cross, cool, but I wanna get that much closer to the middleweight championship, any of the four of them,” Mosley told BoxingScene.com. “Meaning the winner of Lara-Garcia for the WBA belt, Charlo or even Janibek.”
Mosley (19-4, 10 KOs), of Pomona, California, is the WBA’s 10th-ranked contender for Lara’s WBA middleweight title. He also is ranked 13th among the contenders for Charlo’s championship.
Houston’s Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) hasn’t fought in almost two years and doesn’t have a fight scheduled. Cuba’s Lara (29-3-3, 17 KOs) has been ordered by the WBA to fight Philadelphia’s Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs) in his first defense of the championship that Gennadiy Golovkin vacated.
Lara, 40, was the WBA’s secondary middleweight champion before Golovkin gave up his “super” title in March. Garcia is ranked number seven among the WBA’s middleweight contenders, but he has never fought in the middleweight division.
Lara-Garcia has not been scheduled, but the WBA ordered the winner to fight Australia’s Zerafa (31-4, 19 KOs) in his following fight. Mosley proposed another idea.
“If I’m gonna be frank, because I want the WBA title, I would love the winner of Erislandy Lara and Danny Garcia,” Mosley said. “And so, the mandatory for that Shane Mosley Jr. Wants Winner Of Lara-Garcia, Jermall Charlo Or Janibek Alimkhanuly was Michael Zerafa. If all goes well [Saturday night], I would love to fight Michael Zerafa on that same night [Lara fights Garcia] and the winner fights the winner.”
In the likely event that scenario doesn’t unfold the way Mosley hopes, Mosley would welcome a shot at Alimkhanuly’s title.
Kazakhstan’s Alimkhanuly (14-0, 9 KOs) has had difficulty securing the types of fights he wants, including one against Munguia (41-0, 33 KOs), who was once the mandatory challenger for Alimkhanuly’s championship. Mosley “absolutely” would battle Alimkhanuly, assuming the money is right.
“My understanding from a few people that got contracts from Top Rank [to fight] him was that they were offering a lot less money,” Mosley said. “So, they were unwilling to take the fight for the money that they were offering. And so it’s like, ‘See, they don’t wanna fight.’ But it’s like, ‘Yeah, we’ll fight you for more money, but we’re not gonna fight you for that.’
“But that’s neither here nor there. He’s a great fighter. Obviously, he’s a champion for a reason and he’s a tough fight for anybody. The dude has great boxing skills, but I wanna be middleweight world champion.”
Ballard (21-1-1, 13 KOs, 2 NC), of Temple Hills, Maryland, will fight for the first time Saturday night since Munguia stopped him in the third round of their February 2022 bout at Plaza Monumental in Tijuana.
“I’m expecting a tough fighter,” Mosley said. “He’s got a lot of good attributes. Obviously, his only loss is to Jaime Munguia. So, he’s a great fighter, a great test for that upper echelon in the middleweight division. So, I’m excited to show everybody what I’ve been working on and put on a great performance, to show up and show out.”
DAZN’s worldwide coverage of the Munguia-Derevyanchenko card is scheduled to start Saturday at 8 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. PDT).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.