Mosley and Wright retire

Boxing greats Shane Mosley and Ronald 'Winky' Wright have both announced that they will be hanging up their gloves.

The pair, who fought each other twice in 2004, are still considered to be top level fighters but have decided to bow of the sport after losing to upcoming stars.

Wright, 39, was beaten by on points by Peter Quillin at the weekend, Mosley's last appearance in the ring saw him lose a WBC light-middleweight tilt to Mexico's Saul Alvarez in May.

Wright, who has finished with an impressive 51-6-1 (25 KOs) record, started his career in low key bouts in 1990 and spent more than a decade trying to earn the respect of his peers.

His first world title fight did come in 1994 (a losing effort against Julio Cesar Vasquez) but it wasn't until he beat Robert Frazier for the vacant IBF light-middleweight title in 2001 that the boxing world really began to take notice of his talents.

Prior to that he had been based in Europe and won the then lightly regarded WBO bauble with a 1996 split decision over Bronco McKart, before making defences against Britain's Ensley Bingham, Steve Foster and Adrian Dobson.

His pair of wins over Mosley in 2004 plus a unanimous verdict over Puerto Rican great Felix Trinidad in May 2005 earned Wright a place amongst the pound for pound elite.

After moving up to middleweight, he defeated tough Aussie Sam Soliman in an eliminator for the WBC and IBF crowns before drawing with world number one Jermaine Taylor.

Post 2006, seeing the southpaw in action became a rarity. He lost a catchweight contest with Bernard Hopkins in the summer of 2007, before dropping unanimous verdicts to Paul Williams in 2009 and Quillin recently.

Mosley, 40, missed out on a place at the 1992 Olympic Games after losing a trial bout against Vernon Forrest, but he set about the pro game in empathic fashion, winning his first 38 contests.

His first world title success came at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut in August 1997 when he outscored Phillip Holiday over 12 rounds to take the IBF lightweight title.

After making eight successful defences, he jumped up to welterweight and soon found himself pitched against the star of US boxing, Oscar De La Hoya.

Against the odds, Mosley collected a controversial split decision to become WBC champion and put the bauble on the line three times before losing twice to the Vernon Forrest - the man who had dashed his Olympic hopes a decade earlier.

In 2003 he again won a close and contentious affair against De La Hoya, this time with the WBC and WBA light-middleweight championships up for grabs.

But his third stint as a world champion didn't last long as Winky Wright beat him on points twice in 2004.

"Sugar" Shane battled his way back into contention during the summer of 2006 when he beat brash American-Mexican Fernando Vargas for the second time in the space of four months.

However, he did not feel that light-middleweight was the best place to further his career and dropped down to welterweight again. The Californian impressed in outboxing Luis Collazo but lost his world title challenge to Miguel Cotto.

Following a last gasp knockout of Ricardo Mayorga in September 2008, Mosley became a world champion again when he knocked out Antonio Margarito inside nine rounds to take the WBA crown in January 2009.

It was a bout which was shrouded in controversy because prior to the bout Mosley's trainer Nazim Richardson discovered that Margarito was wearing illegal hand wraps. Margarito was allowed to box after his fists had been wrapped properly but was later given a ban.

The win proved to be Mosley's last moment of success as he lost to pound for pound greats Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao, drew with Sergio Mora and then dropped a decision to Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez last month.