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Sports

Roberto Duran to Train Shane Mosley in Next Fight

A boxing legend is slated to train a future hall-of-famer, but it’s doubtful the union will make much of a difference in the boxing landscape.

Former boxing champion Shane Mosley will be returning to the ring with the legendary Roberto Duran in his corner. The two apparently began discussions of working with each other shortly after Mosley's last fight in December of 2015, which took place in Duran's hometown of Panama City.

"I have a world title fight at 147 in May and the exciting news is my trainer will be the great Robert Duran," Mosley said in an interview with World Boxing News.

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According to sources, Mosley's next bout will also be for an "undisclosed world title". It is unclear what "undisclosed" means in this context, but in regards to the actual landscape of the 147lb division, Mosley holds no business contesting for a legitimate welterweight championship. His last fight was against an unheralded Patrick Lopez at the end of 2015, and four months before that he fought an almost meaningless match against an uninspired Ricardo Mayorga. This was all after a 2-year retirement, where he lost all significant bouts during the tail-end of that portion of his career. Though I personally hold a profound respect for the career of Shane Mosley, any world title fight featuring this version of Mosley as one of its contenders is not a legitimate world title fight. Mosley, however, believes the addition of Duran will be the spark to rejuvenate his career.

"Roberto has agreed to be my trainer as he worked with me in Panama before my last fight and we fell in love with each other as student and teacher," Mosley said in the same interview. "I believe he is really going to put me on this whole other level. I am already scary good right now, but with the little tricks and moves Duran is teaching me I am going to be unstoppable."

Duran, who is slated to have a biopic released about his life later this year, has stayed active within the fight community, serving a short stint as a boxing promoter, and made a few appearances in the corner of up-and-coming fighters. He's even dabbled across the realm of combat sports, as he can be seen dropping fistic knowledge on Victor Belfort back in 2011. With all he's accomplished in the fight world, it's clear that Duran is certainly capable as a trainer.

How much that would make a difference in Mosley's future performances is a different matter. Mosley has had a number of chief seconds in his corner, from John David Jackson, to his father Jack Mosley, to the great strategist Naazim Richardson, and they've all come back with mixed results. It's also debatable how much a new trainer would improve a fighter of Mosley's age and experience (he's 44-years-old with 22-years in professional boxing). Furthermore, it's not even clear whether or not Duran speaks English, so unless Mosley has some Spanish skills hidden from the public, it will be interesting to see how the two will communicate with one another.

What I suppose is intriguing about the duo is that Mosley and Duran were once the topic of conversation in the mythical matchups between boxing eras since the two dominated their respective divisions during the primes of the career, and it could prove interesting to see the two work with one another in the real world. I just wouldn't expect too much more out of the union apart from the novelty of that fact.