Mosley a Cinch for a Belt : He Fights Hernandez Tonight, Has Look of a Champion

Midday at a converted gas station near the corner of a busy intersection in East Los Angeles:

Satiated no-pest strips hang from the ceiling in the middle of what used to be separate car bays.

Boxers train, working over bags, perfecting their footwork in the ring and shadow-punching over a well-worn wood plank floor.

Shane Mosley used to train here. Doesn’t anymore.

Two days before he is scheduled to resume what he expects will be a climb to the top of professional boxing’s lightweight division, Mosley is here mugging for cameras between futile swipes at the swarm of gnats buzzing in front of his face.

Jabbing a darting opponent would be a less-arduous task.

Jack Mosley, Shane’s father, is asked by a photographer to pose for a playful shot with his son.

“You want me to do what?” he says quietly but skeptically. “No. Uh-huh. Look, that’s just not me.”

Jack Mosley, who also is Shane’s manager, trainer and confidant, would rather strike a posture giving a thumbs-up sign.

One of the photographers heaves a sigh.

“This is where we’re headed,” Jack says proudly. “Up.”

For the son’s taste, the escalator does not rise quickly enough.

Speed, power and agility all are Mosley attributes. Patience is not.

“It gets real frustrating,” says Shane, who has won all 16 of his professional bouts, 15 by knockout. “I wish I could just use my skills to better my career, but so much of boxing is politics. Things happen a certain way. There’s so much I don’t have any control over.”

Raul Hernandez, Mosley’s opponent in the main event of tonight’s six-bout card at the Warner Center Marriott, presents another necessary step on the ascension to what the 23-year-old from Pomona hopes will be big-payday matchups against either Rafael Ruelas, the International Boxing Federation lightweight champion, or Oscar De La Hoya, who holds the World Boxing Organization title.

“This is a good fight for Shane because he hasn’t been pushed at all,” says Peter Broudy, who operates the gym and is promoter of tonight’s card. “What he needs to do to get to that next level is beat a guy who the public knows.”

Hernandez, a journeyman from Mexico City, lacks such an identity. But his 19-19-2 record is deceiving. Last year he took Ruelas’s brother, Gabriel, the World Boxing Council’s junior lightweight champion, to the canvas only to lose. In another, he went the distance and dropped a split decision to David Kamau, the WBC’s top junior welterweight contender.

“This is a fight to get Shane back in the swing of things,” says Patrick Ortiz, Mosley’s promoter. “Then we want to pick up the pace and try to get him in with a Top 10 fighter and to a world title fight as soon as possible.”

Mosley, an amateur champion from 1989-92, is confident he belongs in the same company as Rafael Ruelas and De La Hoya, who are among the most marketable of young pugilists.

He did, after all, defeat Ruelas twice and De La Hoya once as an amateur. That those fights occurred a decade or so ago, Mosley believes, is inconsequential.

“They still have the same style and I still have the same style,” he says. “We all just got bigger and stronger.”

Broudy predicts Mosley would defeat Ruelas, who has a record of 43-1 with 34 knockouts. He rates a fight against De La Hoya (17-0, 15 knockouts) a tossup.

“I would borrow money and bet all I could acquire that he would beat Rafael,” Broudy says. “But would he beat Oscar? That would be a helluva fight. Shane’s a better boxer, but Oscar makes up for whatever his flaws are because he has tremendous power.”

Of course, such chatter is mere guesswork. Mosley’s toughest bout so far probably was last year against Mauro Gutierrez, a fighter who almost three years ago dealt Rafael Ruelas his only loss but, by Broudy’s description, was “a little on the washed-up side” by the time he met Mosley.

Ruelas and De La Hoya have risen to the top by being opportunistic. Ruelas turned professional at 17 and was managed by Ten Goose Boxing. When Dan Goossen, Ten Goose’s president, closed shop to become vice president of Top Rank Boxing, he took the Ruelas brothers with him.

De La Hoya earned a jump start by winning an Olympic gold medal.

Jack Mosley had visions of Olympic glory also propelling his son, but Shane, competing as a light-welterweight, was defeated by Vernon Forrest in the U.S. trials.

Forrest, 1992 amateur world champion, and Mosley were tied for first in USA Boxing’s national rankings.

Shane was less distraught over the loss than his father.

“He really didn’t care for the Olympics,” Jack says. “He used to tell me, ‘I just want to be a professional fighter.’ The Olympics was just another tournament. He didn’t know what it could do for him, although I tried to explain it.”

Now he knows.

“I know I’m world-class material,” Mosley says. “It’s politics, and that’s frustrating because that’s something I have no control over.”

The top talent brokers in boxing--Bob Arum, Dan King and Lou Duva--have courted Mosley, but have not been able to sign him to a contract.

Goossen confirmed Top Rank’s interest, adding, “If we didn’t feel he had the credentials to be a world champion we wouldn’t be interested in him. He is a very talented fighter with the kind of other qualities he can parlay into becoming a special athlete. He has super-star qualities.”

A big promoter can offer the type of exposure Mosley so desperately needs.

“If we can get Shane on TV, he’ll be a star overnight,” Jack predicts.

Mosley doesn’t seem particularly enthused over the prospect of dealing with big-time promoters, but he seems resigned to it as a necessary evil.

“I’ve been boxing almost 15 years,” he says. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to take me where I want to go.”

Mosley started boxing before his ninth birthday, the result of his tagging along with Dad, a former amateur fighter, on trips to the gym.

“You know how little kids in school take a nap?” Jack recalls. “Well, Shane was so hyper he’d never take a nap. He’d just ride a tricycle around the yard at the nursery school.

“My wife wanted me to work with him and keep him busy because he was driving her nuts at home.”

Shane was a quick study, learning an artful jab almost immediately. At age 10 he had a nickname, “Sugar.” Even then spectators likened his looks and style to that of Sugar Ray Robinson.

Mosley is, strategically, a bit of a throwback, using jabs and marrow-rattling body punches to soften an opponent.

“Most of the guys he’s stopped, it’s been with body punches,” Jack says. “And he’s knocked three guys out with jabs alone.”

Mosley, who had more than 250 amateur bouts, is a chameleon in the ring, adapting his style according to the strength of his opponent. Naturally right-handed, he also can lead with his left. He jabs and moves a power puncher, cuts off and engages dancers.

“I know I’m biased, but I don’t think there’s a lightweight out there who can beat him,” Ortiz says. “It would be nice if the best could fight for a title only on the merit of what they do in the ring.”

Truth be told, Mosley already holds one unofficial title. Several publications rate him among boxing’s top prospects and one called him “the top lightweight without a belt.”

Nice compliments.

Mosley would rather have the belt.

*

First bell is 7:30. Makito Martinez of Tijuana, the No. 4 flyweight in the world according to the World Boxing Council, will meet Julio Luna of Gomez Palacio, Mexico, in another 10-round bout. Martinez has a record of 29-8-1 with 23 knockouts. Luna is 9-5-1 with five KOs.

On the undercard, Florencio Ibarra (10-2-1, eight KOs) of Napa, Idaho, against Shawn Crowdus (7-5, six KOs) of Louisville, Ky., in a six-round junior middleweight fight.

In a five-round bout, heavyweight Jim Mullen (6-1-1, two KOs) of Simi Valley will make his third appearance at the Marriott in six months when he takes on Derrick Jefferson of Detroit. Jefferson is making his professional debut.

Also at five rounds, lightweight Michael Walsh (13-0-2, 11 KOs) of La Mirada meets Marcos Esquivel (1-5-1, one KO) from Van Nuys. Esquivel, 29, formerly a regular Reseda Country Club fighter, is boxing for the first time in nine years.

Derrick Berry, another Jack Mosley-trained fighter, will meet Aljenon DuBose of Oakland in a four-round cruiserweight bout that marks the professional debut for both.