Shane Mosley blames botched elbow surgery for decision to retire

Former three-division world champion Shane Mosley is calling it quits at age 45 after nearly two-and-a-half decades of fighting, but he blames a botched surgery for robbing him of what could’ve been several more years in the ring.

In an interview with ESPN’s Dan Rafael on Wednesday, Mosley said that an elbow procedure gone wrong was what forced him into retirement.

“I had a few more years left in me and had a few big fights lined up for 2017 and 2018. [Bernard] Hopkins fought up to 50 at the world-class level and he has always been a role model and friend,” said Mosley. “However, fate, if you will, stepped in and took those options away from me earlier this year.

“I went in for a minor arthroscopic surgery to remove a couple loose bone fragments from my elbow and the surgery turned into a whole ordeal after the surgeon admittedly ‘accidentally’ burned me on my forearm, leading to a sick infection and needing like four or five days of IV antibiotics and two weeks of antibiotics at home,” he continued. “It was crazy and surreal to learn that I could never fight again … My right arm is ruined. They were supposed to make two 2-centimeter incisions in my elbow in a one-hour surgery, and I ended up in there over four hours and came out butchered.”

Mosley last fought back in May 2016, losing a unanimous decision to David Avanesyan. He finishes his career with a record of 49-10-1 with 41 knockouts.

At his apex, Sugar Shane was one of the top pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, and he kept finding ways to entertain us, even in his twilight years. This is technically Mosley’s third retirement — he had previously announced he was hanging up his gloves in 2012, then in 2013 before coming back to fight both times — but unfortunately, it sounds like this one is for good this time.