Botched Surgery Led To Shane Mosley’s Retirement from Boxing

If one suggested that former world champion boxer Shane Mosley retired from boxing earlier this week due to old age or losing his skills inside the ring, he or she would be sorely mistaken.

Mosley, one of the greatest fighters of his generation, announced his retirement from the Sweet Science on Tuesday, revealed to BoxingScene.com on Wednesday that he essentially was forced into it. The Pomona, Calif., native said that a generally routine surgery went awry, causing “Sugar” to step away from the ring sooner than he would have liked.

Mosley told the site that he went in for a minor arthroscopic surgery to remove a few loose bone fragments in his elbow. Unfortunately, the operating physician accidentally burnt Mosley’s forearm during the procedure and the wound became infected. The future Hall of Famer was put on IV antibiotics for four to five days and then regular antibiotics at home for two additional weeks.

“I still can’t even straighten my arm or bend my arm to this day and have numbness in my fingers,” he said. “It’s really sad and I have been dealing with some depression over losing something that was this important to me. I have been in physical therapy since it happened, trying to get my arm ready for the fight against Kurbanov which was an easy win for me. The kid only has nine fights under his belt and had no idea what he was getting into.”

Mosley (49-10-1, 41 KOs) hasn’t fought since losing to David Avanesyan in May 2016. He was slated to face Russian prospect Magomed Kurbanov this year, but that bout was canceled when Mosley had the surgery on his elbow.

Mosley is regarded as one of the sport’s greatest lightweights ever, but he became a superstar in the ring when he conquered Oscar de la Hoya for the world welterweight title. He captured world titles at lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight and throughout his career, he defeated the likes of de la Hoya (twice), Antonio Margarito, Ricardo Mayorga and Fernando Vargas. He also came up short against some of the greatest combatants of his era: Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Manny Pacquiao, Vernon Forrest and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.