JULY 21st at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, the smoke will hardly have cleared from the au d'ouvres supplied the night before by Cedric Kushner's Heavyweight Explosion and two of the most curious fights will attract the attention of a national audience.

The return of Cedric's newly acquired Heavyweight enigma, Mike Grant, hoping to rejuvenate his brief spell of inactivity since losing his cherry to former heavyweight kingpin Lennox Lewis and the return to the ring of one of boxing's finest performers and future legend Shane Mosley. At 37-0 with 34 KO's Shane is without doubt a fighter who needs no introduction, an impeccable record that even when scrutinized closely will show that he is not one for avoiding stiff opposition, meeting and overcoming the best quality challenges imaginable, in establishing a case in favour as the hottest property in world boxing today... but on this occasion he meets a new challenge, Motivation!

Can a fighter with a CV sporting the names of ex champions like John John Molina, James Leija and Oscar de la Hoya and having applied a # in the Loss column to each, still remain highly charged when faced with a challenger who is of a lot lesser pedigree and is of a more modest profile than the aforementioned challengers?... In a nutshell can Sugar Shane Mosley lift himself to that same level as he did twelve months ago at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles when he tarnished the sparkle of the Golden Child, to accommodate the challenge of Adrian Stone, a fighter with a good record socializing in fair company, and a trans-Atlantic background, mixing his 35 fight, 8 year professional career between his English homeland and the United States in the same fashion former Middleweight and Super Middleweight king Steve Collins did in the early 90's?

Adrian is as solid as his surname suggests, but is proven at a lot lesser standard than Mosley if the truth be known, but that leaves him in the fabulous position as underdog, a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain... But for Shane the opposite must be said, this is a night where he is in a no win situation, the stage is set and America will expect. On paper Mosley is a hands down favourite and a royal one at that, his 35 fight challenger has lost 3 times and drawn twice albeit on the 5 times that he has attempted to jump to world level. Adrian's losses have been to respectable names, Jesse James Hughes, Skipper Kelp and Vernon Forrest; names that actually enhance his profile for this meeting plus the fact that he has beaten former Olympic Gold medalist Mike Carruth by stoppage in 5 in England acquiring the lightly regarded IBO Light Middleweight title, a trinket that adds a little more weight to his case as a worthy challenger. But we do have to keep factors in perspective the champion that we speak of is not any old ABC..XYZ champion. He is a universally recognized and widely acknowledged Super Champion, who now has to show professionalism in priming his skills for a lesser regarded opponent as if he were fighting Godzilla.

Shane has no choice not just to win, but to win in a manner that befits his stature in this situation, Adrian Stone must be treated with respect and Shane cannot afford any creature comforts in his preparations for this fight, no matter how straight forward this task may seem... Lennox Lewis showed us the result of such mindlessness. As a British man myself, I know what this opportunity means to Stone and his trans-Atlantic following. The shame of it is, that most of his fans back here even the most avid, are not aware of the Magnitude of what an accomplishment it would be to depose Mr. Mosley on the 21st, simply because Shane has not been seen on British TV and is merely unknown in the UK.

Stone is very aware of what kind of championship skill he will be negotiating with in Las Vegas and as ever he will be in impeccable shape to befit his great opportunity. Adrian is an unlikely champion but a lively challenger who, if allowed to, will provide a very game show; it is up to Sugar Shane Mosley to show us how a real Champion should respond to such a proposal... Mismatch or Mishap... A fight in Atlantic City 15 years ago springs to mind when a lightly regarded British challenger did the unthinkable against the then regarded Pound for Pound best fighter on the planet; when Donald Curry was deposed and relieved of his belts by Lloyd Honeyghan in 1986... Can lightning strike twice?... Judge for yourself... I say nothing...

Questions? Comments? Email Stephen Jones

7-29-2002