With Wright Fight, Mosley Places Futures Bet

LAS VEGAS — Even here, where huge sums of money ride on a roll of the dice, a shuffle of the deck, a $10-million gamble raises some eyebrows.

Especially when it is taken by a high-stakes player such as Shane Mosley.

Mosley's $10-million pot will be on the line tonight, not at the gaming tables, but in the Mandalay Bay Events Center, where he will fight Winky Wright for the undisputed 154-pound title. Mosley is the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Assn. titleholder, Wright the International Boxing Federation champion.

Mosley, coming off his second victory over Oscar De La Hoya, will receive a purse of $2.1 million, for a total of a little more than $3 million when other sources of revenue are figured in. Wright will get $750,000.

There could have been more for Mosley, a lot more. This could have been the weekend Mosley fought De La Hoya for a third time -- for a purse of $12 million.

That's the amount Bob Arum, De La Hoya's promoter, mentioned to Judd Burstein, Mosley's attorney, when they began negotiations for Mosley-De La Hoya III.

The problem was, De La Hoya was going to get a $15-million guarantee. Mosley told Burstein to proceed no further, refusing to accept less than a 50-50 split against the man he had twice beaten, regardless of the amount being considered.

"It didn't matter how much money it was," Burstein said. "Shane had too much pride to accept less than 50-50. The smart business decision would have be to take the offer, but you have to admire Shane for sticking to what he believes is right."

That big payday is still out there. Unable to reach an agreement with De La Hoya, Mosley found a kindred spirit in Felix Trinidad, who also has beaten De La Hoya. Trinidad has been retired, but De La Hoya was also trying to get back in the ring with him -- and offering less money than De La Hoya would get.

The handlers of Mosley and Trinidad got together, compared notes and figured, why not just eliminate the middleman? So they did, reaching a tentative agreement for a Mosley-Trinidad fight in November, with Mosley to receive the $10 million he lost by not fighting De La Hoya.

To earn that paycheck, however, Mosley (39-2, 35 knockouts) must first get by Wright (46-3, 25 knockouts), who has an agenda of his own.

It's an agenda Mosley can identify with. For years, he boxed in the shadow of De La Hoya, plagued by poor management that left him with low-profile sites, lower-profile opponents and small paydays while De La Hoya became "the Golden Boy."