Ringside Reunion

It’s only a two-minute drive from Shane Mosley’s home in La Verne to the home of his father, Jack, but when Shane made that short trip on a spring day in 2004, it felt like the longest drive of his life.

That’s because Shane, a former champion in three weight divisions, went there to fire Jack, who had served as his trainer since he first stepped into a ring at age 8.

In anticipation of Saturday night’s junior-middleweight rematch against Fernando Vargas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Shane made that short drive again this spring, but this time it was a much easier trip.

Finding Jack in his driveway, Shane told him, “Dad, I need you to train me.”

Said Jack on Wednesday in recalling the moment: “I told him, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ I didn’t have to think about it. He’s my kid.”

The two had split over the perception that Jack was no longer fully focused on his son’s career, that he had become too involved in a secondary career as a music producer, spending more and more time at several music studios he had invested in.

It’s a charge Jack denies.

“That’s absurd,” he said. “I had time to train Shane. It’s no different than all the years I worked as a physical therapist while training Shane. I can juggle things. The music didn’t stop me from doing what I had to do with Shane. I had a lot of energy. I’m 61 now and I still have a lot of energy.”

Jin Mosley, Shane’s wife, saw it differently.

“Jack’s No. 1 love was music,” she said. “He’s a phenomenal singer. And I think things kind of got stale with the boxing for him, as it can with any career. I think he kind of lost focus.

“There was no perfect time” to fire him. “It was like a divorce.”

For a long time, Jack and Shane had been inseparable. Jack took Shane to the gym, laced on his gloves, taught him the fundamentals of the sport, tended to his bruises, built his confidence, designed his strategy and anchored his corner.

When Shane turned professional, with promoters coming out of the shadows promising fame and fortune, Jack added the title of manager and tried to steer his son through the thicket of opportunists.

In the ring, Shane was unbeatable, winning his first 37 fights, 34 by knockout. He beat Philip Holiday to win the International Boxing Federation lightweight title. He beat Oscar De La Hoya to win the World Boxing Council welterweight crown.

But Mosley wasn’t winning enough fans to warrant blockbuster paydays, wasn’t getting enough endorsements to make him the star many thought he should be. Much of the criticism for that came down on Jack, who gave up the managerial duties and concentrated on being in Shane’s corner.

When Shane lost twice to Vernon Forrest in 2002, critics questioned whether Jack should be Shane’s trainer, whether he had taken his son as far as he could, whether a new voice and a new approach were needed.

After Mosley lost to Winky Wright in 2003, the concerns about Jack’s focus became the overriding issue. But firing his father was an almost unthinkable step for Shane.

When it finally happened, the blame fell on Jin, who had become known in boxing circles as a hatchet woman because various people around her husband were removed after her arrival, including promoters Cedric Kushner and Gary Shaw, several corner personnel, Jack and his successor, Joe Goossen.

Jin doesn’t deny she had a role in these dismissals, but insists her husband always has the final word.

“The negative elements around Shane,” said Jin, “were draining him financially, emotionally and mentally. At the time they were fired, it was warranted, more than called for. It had to be done.

“But what people don’t understand is that all I do is open Shane’s eyes. He makes the decisions. I just facilitate. Shane lets people hang around and, eventually, they hang themselves.”

The man who makes his living by confronting opponents in the ring, hates to do so outside the ring, according to his wife.

“He doesn’t ever, ever say no to anybody,” Jin said. “I remember we were at a gas station and this guy I was convinced was a crack head -- you could practically see the needle hanging out of his arm -- came up to us and said he needed money to drive home to Arizona. He didn’t even have a car. Anybody else might have given him 50 cents. Shane handed him $20. I jumped out and grabbed the $20 back.”

When Shane fired Jack, the entire Mosley clan -- Jack, his wife, Clemmie, Shane, his two sisters and eight grandchildren -- were all affected.

“It was a very rough, frustrating time,” said Cerena Mosley Prude, one of Shane’s sisters, “almost like a death in the family. It was very hard on all of us. I prayed for them. I thought they had been the perfect father-son team.”

Jack continued to support his son and sit near ringside at his fights.

“That spoke volumes about Jack,” Jin said.

Goossen trained Mosley for his second fight against Wright, then John David Jackson came in for three fights. But when Jackson informed Mosley that, because he was also helping train Bernard Hopkins for his match against Antonio Tarver, he couldn’t be there for Mosley at the start of training for Saturday’s rematch, it seemed like a perfect opening for a reconciliation.

“It was always understood,” Jin said, “that Shane would end his career with Jack. The door was always open. Now I think Jack is completely focused. I think he has fallen in love with boxing again.”

Shane notices a difference in his father.

“I see his enthusiasm as he watches tape of the first Vargas fight over and over again,” Shane said. “He wasn’t doing that before. He was juggling jobs. Now he has reinvented himself. He knows now what is important.”

*

Fight facts

Who: Shane Mosley vs. Fernando Vargas.

* What: Junior-middleweight non-title fight.

* When: 6 p.m. Saturday on HBO pay per view.

* Where: MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas.

* Rounds: 12.

* Undercard: Juan Diaz vs. Randy Suico, 12, for Diaz’s WBA lightweight title; Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Sod Looknonyangtoy, 12, for Ponce De Leon’s WBO super-bantamweight title.

Source: Associated Press