There was a time when everybody was aboard the Sugar Shane Mosley Express.

	Shane Mosley, right, handed Oscar De La Hoya a loss, but ring life has changed for each since then.

It was happily chugging through boxing history, conducted by a fighter bound to be listed among the greatest to lace up a pair of Everlasts.

But something happened on the way to that place.

The Sugar Shane Mosley Express derailed like Ozzy Osbourne's rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Non-stop service from Mosley's home in Pomona, Calif., to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y., came to a lurching halt in pugilistic purgatory.

The wreckage still hasn't been cleaned up -- or at least no one has seen proof of it yet.

Mosley hasn't won a fight in 25 months, yet he'll try to get his career back on track Sept. 13 against WBC and WBA junior middleweight champ Oscar De Le Hoya at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.

Three summers ago, Mosley was the mayor of Fist City. He had beaten De La Hoya, one of the biggest attractions boxing has ever seen, on a split decision for the WBC welterweight title.

Mosley was unquestionably worthy of his legendary nickname. He was viewed as nothing less than perfect. He was undefeated, fast, powerful. He was a splendid gentleman and family man.

But two dumbfounding losses to Vernon Forrest kicked Mosley square in the caboose. The praise, once thunderous in his ears, could only be heard in the echoes of his memory. His supporters vanished quicker than they had appeared.

"The bandwagon riders," as Mosley calls them, leapt from the Sugar Shane Express without remorse.

And Mosley was the one feeling jilted.

"Shane is a really good kid and a really good person," Mosley's new promoter, Gary Shaw, said. "He spent years fighting and having people say real nice things about him, and he has nothing to say about anybody negatively.

"What really hurts Shane is -- I don't know if it's jumping off the bandwagon -- but feeling abandoned because Shane was still the same Shane whether he won in the ring or lost in the ring. I think he felt that a lot of the riders -- a lot of the media -- were not the same or didn't feel the same about him."

Welcome to the real world, Shane, where everything isn't always lollipops, puppy dogs and the Olsen twins.

Six days before the big rematch, Mosley will turn 32. That's old enough to know how business, especially this one, works. Yet it appears the chip on his shoulder -- even though he refuses to admit it's even there -- is affecting his common sense.

In a recent teleconference Mosley spoke plainly about many topics. He discussed his unwavering self-confidence, his renewed commitment to performing like he used to and his conviction about beating De La Hoya "in spectacular fashion."

But that was the sugarcoated version of Mosley's mind-set. Considerable bitterness bubbled below the surface, an animosity that apparently has become the new coal for his engine.

Shaw prefaced the teleconference by informing reporters they would not be allowed to ask Mosley about his purse, which is a fraction of De La Hoya's.

Mosley, seemingly oblivious to the fact De La Hoya is one of only two boxers with mainstream popularity, had been outspoken about the substantial discrepancy.

"I didn't want to take the (rematch) because I felt I was being ripped off," Mosley had been quoted as saying.

	Pound for pound list
	Tim Graham's top 15: 1. Roy Jones Jr. 2. Marco Antonio Barrera 3. Bernard Hopkins 4. Oscar De La Hoya 5. Kostya Tszyu 6. Floyd Mayweather Jr. 7. Ricardo Mayorga 8. Erik Morales 9. Lennox Lewis 10. James Toney 11. Eric Morel 12. Oscar Larios 13. Vernon Forrest 14. Shane Mosley 15. Rafael Marquez

De La Hoya (36-2, 29 KOs) will rake in around $23 million after the HBO Pay-Per-View receipts are counted.

Mosley (38-2, 35 KOs) is guaranteed $4.5 million with a pay-per-view potential of $9 million. There has been a $500,000 side purse set up for Mosley if he wins.

"Ripped off," eh? If it weren't for De La Hoya's hunger for revenge the nearest Mosley would get to this kind of scratch would be if Ed McMahon rang his doorbell.

The only time Mosley became animated during his teleconference was when he was asked to contemplate what has gone wrong over the past two years and the subsequent fallout he experienced.

Mosley refused to admit he was resentful, but the tone of his voice betrayed him.

"Sometimes I think people are bandwagon riders," Mosley said. "That's what pisses me off. That's what gets me a little angry."

Then he still managed to turn the burning sentiment into a positive response.

"I really thank the bandwagon riders for this particular fight, this particular victory I'm about to get," Mosley said. "It made me go back to the drawing board and really dig in and look at my films and see what I haven't been doing that I used to do. It helped me be a better fighter and a better person."

Mosley has produced more children (two) than victories (one) over the past two years. In fact, he has executed only a handful of quality rounds since his last triumph, a third-round knockout of Adrian Stone in July 2001.

He won perhaps three rounds when he first fought Forrest in Jan. 2002. Forrest knocked him down twice in the second round and breezed to a unanimous decision. Forrest not only took Mosley's WBC welterweight belt, he also carved the first blemish into Mosley's sparkling record.

A fighter's first loss -- Mosley went undefeated in his first 38 matches -- is one of the most difficult setbacks any athlete can come back from. Yet Mosley foolishly accepted a rematch with Forrest only six months later rather than take an interim bout to restore his shaken confidence. Mosley didn't make the proper adjustments, and Forrest easily won another 12-round decision.

Mosley, who has always been trained by his father, Jack, then fought for the first time at 154 pounds against Raul Marquez in February. But the bout lasted only three rounds and was ruled a no contest after accidental head butts tore gashes over Marquez's eyes.

De La Hoya, meanwhile, rehabilitated his career since losing to Mosley. The Golden Boy basked in the afterglow of his Grammy-nominated CD and then won four straight fights, including three at 154 pounds, under new trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.

De La Hoya ripped apart paper-face slugger Arturo Gatti. Then De La Hoya moved up in weight to beat then-junior middleweight champions Javier Castillejo and Fernando Vargas and faded warrior Yory Boy Campas. De La Hoya has logged 30 impressive rounds at 154 pounds compared to three ineffectual ones for Mosley.

That's enough to make Mosley a 2-to-1 underdog in Las Vegas.

Nevertheless, Sugar Shane has no doubt he will powder his old foe again.

He even went so far as to call De La Hoya "a stepping stone to get me back to the top." It must have been the first time De La Hoya has ever been referred to in such terms.

"I don't think that anybody ... I don't think that anybody right now can beat me in that ring Sept. 13," Mosley said. "My self-esteem, my belief in myself will never drop. I always feel like I'm the best -- no matter what. When I go into the ring it feels like I can beat anybody in there. It doesn't matter who steps in there with me."

Mosley denied the notion that being too confident cost him against Forrest, a fighter who has since been upset in successive bouts with Ricardo Mayorga.

"I wasn't getting cocky," Mosley said of his recent inability to win. "I'm not that type of person. I was comfortable with being able to hit people whenever I wanted to and knock them out instead of using defense as well as your offense. I'm so much faster than a lot guys. I can hit them so easily until you can get a little lackadaisical and say 'I can hit him before he hits me,' and then you don't really move. Instead of moving and firing like you're supposed to, you just kind of hit him first and knock him out -- until you get into the ring with somebody you have to move with."

Tuh-MAY-toe, tuh-MAH-toe. The above words sure appear to be a description of over-confidence to me.

In actuality the only reason Mosley should have a sliver of self-assurance over De La Hoya right now is a three-year-old result that wasn't unanimous.

De La Hoya made corrections since his last defeat, firing trainers Gil Clancy and Roberto Alcazar in favor of Mayweather.

"I'll be different this time," De La Hoya said. "He couldn't beat Forrest because he didn't change. He didn't make adjustments after the first fight. I'm not going to be the same Oscar."

I believe De La Hoya.

Why? Because at some point he stopped pretending everything was OK and addressed his shortcomings. As a result his recent bouts have added to his legacy rather than detract from it.

The same can't be said for Mosley.

He thinks he sees the light at the end of his tunnel. But to me it looks like a freight train with a load of momentum barreling from the opposite direction.

Tim Graham covers boxing for The Buffalo News and The Ring Magazine.