Saul Alvarez-Shane Mosley set for May 5

Shane Mosley, the former pound-for-pound king, three-division champion and probable Hall of Famer, knows he has not looked good in recent f!ghts. In fact, the 40-year-old Mosley is 2-3-1 in his last six bouts and 0-2-1 in his last three since his major upset of Antonio Margarito in 2009.

But Mosley, still with one of the most recognizable names in boxing, is getting what figures to be his last title shot after he and junior middleweight titleholder Saul "Canelo" Alvarez came to terms Friday night.

They will meet on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in the co-featured f!ght on the pay-per-view card headlined by Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KOs) moving up to junior middleweight to challenge Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs) for his version of the 154-pound title.

"This is more of a f!ght to prove myself. I know I didn't look good in my last couple of f!ghts and I really to make a statement in this f!ght," Mosley told ESPN.com on Friday night. "I just want to get in the ring, f!ght a world champion and win another belt.

"I'm very excited and happy. It's another chance for me to show that I still belong. He's a young guy and it's a tough f!ght, but I'm excited to get the f!ght. A lot of guys want to be in the position I am in to have this type of f!ght."

Said Alvarez, "This is the f!ght I was looking for. Shane Mosley is a tremendous f!ghter with a lot of experience and big victories in his storied career. Even though I have enormous respect and admiration for Mosley, because he is a great person outside of the ring, my goal is to defeat him with a great performance."

Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs), just 21, is already one of boxing's biggest stars. His addition to the Mayweather-Cotto undercard on Cinco de Mayo, a traditional weekend for a major f!ght featuring a Mexican star, is a huge boost to show that already figured to be the year's biggest to date.

"It's Cinco de Mayo, so when you add Mexico's biggest star to a card that already has Mayweather, the pound-for-pound king, and Cotto, Puerto Rico's biggest star, and 'Canelo' is f!ghting Mosley, who is a legend, that is a huge night," said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who had been working for weeks on the f!ght.

Because of the revenue Alvarez generates on his own, it was a difficult to have him accept a spot on an undercard, Schaefer said.

"It was not an easy f!ght to put together because it is really a main event on its own and could have sold out a venue on its own or even been its own pay-per-view," he said. "But this takes a mega event with Mayweather and Cotto, which is a huge f!ght and didn't need any help at all, and takes it to a totally different level. With these two f!ghts on the card, it's one of the biggest events we've ever promoted. It will be a celebration of the sport of boxing, a shining moment for the sport. To have Mayweather, Cotto, Canelo and 'Sugar' Shane Mosley all on the same card, I get the chills thinking about it."

It took some convincing for Alvarez to agree to go on the undercard. In September, he was also on a Mayweather undercard, but only in terms of the pay-per-view broadcast. While Mayweather fought Victor Ortiz in Las Vegas, Alvarez headlined a card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles against Alfonso Gomez. Now they will f!ght in the same arena. Schaefer said that Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya was the driving force in convincing Alvarez, who will be making his fourth defense of the belt Mosley once held, to go on the undercard.

"I have to give a lot of credit to Oscar," Schaefer said. "He worked very hard on this to get this done. He did a terrific job. He pulled it together. He dealt with Canelo. It was challenging to secure the spot than getting the actual f!ght done. But Canelo knows it's a big f!ght. When we met with him, he said he knows it's a dangerous f!ght. Shane Mosley knows he has his back against the wall. He knows it's do or be done and that makes a veteran that much more dangerous." "Canelo said he's going to go into the f!ght and make a statement and that would be to stop Mosley, because nobody has ever done that before."

Mosley also believes he is not an undercard f!ghter, but accepted the spot because of the opportunity to f!ght Alvarez.

"I didn't have any negativity about being the co-main event," he said. "I know I am not a co-main event f!ghter, but I want to get in the ring. To f!ght someone like Canelo Alvarez will be tremendous for me at this stage of my career. I believe I'm a lot more experienced that he is. It's youth against experience. It's 'Sugar' against 'Cinnamon.'"

In his last f!ght, Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) got knocked down in the third round and lost every round in a shutout decision to Manny Pacquiao in a welterweight title bout in May 2011. Mosley said he went into the f!ght with an injured Achilles tendon in his left foot.

In order to take the f!ght with Pacquiao, Mosley went with Top Rank, Golden Boy's chief rival, and gave up his stake in Golden Boy, which he had been a partner in for several years. Now, he is back with Golden Boy. Schaefer said Golden Boy will have Mosley under contract for the f!ght with Alvarez plus options on his next two bouts.

Mosley said he has no hard feelings toward Golden Boy and is happy with work the team there again.

"I have no grudges against Golden Boy, they're a good company," he said. "I can do business with them. I can do business with Top Rank, whoever is going to be fair. I wanted this f!ght, so we did what we had to do to get it. It would be great to beat somebody like Canelo to kind of show that the naysayers that say I'm old and can't do it anymore and should retire are wrong. This will be the victory to show I am still here and I haven't left yet."

Dan Rafael covers boxing for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter.

Saul Alvarez-Shane Mosley f!ght set for May 5 in Las Vegas - ESPN

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Canelo should be main event every time he f!ghts but it is against mosley so

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Mosley's a bum now.

Post earlier...

Not even mad you got a Hot Topic also[pic].... Looking forward this f!ght.[pic]

Dudes gonna be @ Mosley girlfriend wild crazy jungle monkey hungry after Mosley gets beat up


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Best of luck to Mosley tho lol wishful thinking

mosley shot but he might pull a upset if he pull the trigger...which i doubt he do

i wanna see canelo TKO him in like 9.


but i really wanna see the Cotto v May f!ght.

i think this card has huge firework potential

Nice card [pic]

this should get a lot more ppv buys then just may/cotto

Mexicans buying for saul and ricans for cotto....will look good for Mayweather in the pac negotiations...this going to get some buys

This is the true test for canelo! I'm a believer if he wins

Word. I've never been a canelo fan but I wanna see what he's made of. My dude is Chavez Jr cinco de may coronas n boxing !!s going down may>cotto

mosley bout to get beat the !! up and probably stopped for the first time [pic]

this will be the best f!ght card in a long time

!!ing bogus!!!

Am I the only one that hates Boxing for not making the Pacman/Maywether f!ght happen???

Come the !! on man...

alvarez fokin hypejob his last 7 opponents average 35 years old. Fok that all of his f!ghts have been mismatches

boxing been fokin up for a minute

i wish that was the only f!ght they didnt make , you almost never see the top 4 of a division facing each othe rthat shyt is sad