Contract signed: Mosley-Mayweather set for May 1
Shane Mosley, the No. 3-ranked fighter in the Yahoo! Sports ratings, has signed his contract to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a welterweight megafight on May 1 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Mosley attorney Judd Burstein said late Friday.
Earlier in the day, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said that a deal had been agreed upon, as reported Thursday by Yahoo! Sports and that contracts were being drawn up. Ellerbe said Mayweather would sign the deal as soon as it was ready.
Mayweather is the second-ranked fighter in the Yahoo! Sports poll. Promoters turned to a Mayweather-Mosley match after attempts to make a fight between Mayweather and top-ranked Manny Pacquiao failed in a dispute over drug testing.
Mosley, who said he unknowingly used two anabolic steroids and EPO prior to a 2003 fight with Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas, has agreed to the testing Mayweather requested. Both fighters will be subject to random blood and urine testing which will be administered to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
Mosley flew to Las Vegas on Friday to meet with Burstein and sign the contract. Ellerbe on Friday vehemently denied that Mayweather ever considered fighting Paulie Malignaggi or Nate Campbell, both of whom are super lightweights.
“Floyd tried to fight the guy everyone thought was the best guy available and we couldn’t get that fight done, so we went to the next guy on the list,†Ellerbe said. “As I’ve said many times, when Floyd decided to come back to boxing, he did it to be in major events. He’s going to face all of the top welterweights and one by one, knock them all off.â€ÂÂ
A news conference to formally announce the fight is expected to be held in New York within the next week.
source:sports.yahoo.com
