Says Mosley during a recent press conference, “With me my ego is not that big where I have to be the main event. If I had to be the main event then I wouldn’t be on the card. I’m happy to be on the card and enhance the card and make it better. I love to fight and I love to get in the ring. I love to give the fans great fights. It is going to be a great night, a wonderful night. There are some great fighters on the card.”

But don’t be fooled. Mosley has a reason to be humble. This fight, his first at a return to the Welterweight division after trying his hand at 154 in his successful pursuit of De La Hoya. But, as most fans and critics would agree, Mosley’s career after his stunning twelfth round defeat of De La Hoya left much to be desired. In retrospect, even Mosley himself thinks he’s a more effective boxer at 147. Says Mosley, “I wondered whether it would be a problem or not but right now I’m at 152. I’m pretty good, about 5 pounds away. When I fought my second fight with Winky I made the weight so easily – I was at 154 two weeks before the fight. I was like ‘wow.’ I feel a lot sharper and a lot faster in my workouts. If there was a weight class, 150 would be a great weight class for me, but 147 with the smaller gloves is great for me.

But I think I would still stay at about 150 because I think that is my greatest strength. What happened to me in my last couple of fights was I became a puncher first and a boxer second but when I started my career I was a boxer first and a puncher second and I want to get to the way it was when I started. I have the knockout power.”

So the question is, is Mosley right that a lighter weight class, smaller gloves and renewed enthusiasm will be enough to propel him to his status of old? Estrada’s no push over. He’s trained by legendary Angelo Dundee which means he always has a shot. But the truth is, what we’ll all be watching for on April 23rd is this: Does Sugar Shane Mosley look like the old Sugar Shane, or has he become a fighter who should be the third billing on a four-fight card? It would be great for the sport if Mosley returned to form, but he needs to figure out how he’s going to do that. If it’s just a matter of settling into a weight class, then hopefully we’re all about to see an exciting series of fights from him in the near future. Otherwise, we may be in for a long road of watching a fighter struggle to figure out how to regain his form.

On April 23rd, we may get an idea of what the answer will be.

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