Suddenly, He’s in Oscar’s Class

For a fighter, going up one weight class could be tough.

Going up two weight classes at once could be foolhardy.

Going up two weight classes to face a tough, proven contender could be downright dumb.

But not in Shane Mosley’s mind. He figures that, by moving up from 135 pounds to 147, from lightweight to welterweight while skipping junior welterweight, he could be worth his weight in gold.

Mosley will make his welterweight debut tonight at the Pechanga Entertainment Center in Temecula, Calif., where he will face Wilfredo Rivera of Puerto Rico in a 10-round main event.

Mosley must concentrate on Rivera, a world-class fighter, and on his own body as he tries to adjust to the extra pounds, but he can’t help but look beyond tonight.

Because suddenly, there within reach is his ultimate opponent, Oscar De La Hoya, and the millions that come to De La Hoya’s name opponents.

“[Felix] Trinidad has kind of opened the door up for me,” Mosley said.

De La Hoya-Mosley would be a natural for Southern California. Both are natives, De La Hoya from East Los Angeles and Mosley from Pomona. Both were undefeated champions until De La Hoya lost last Saturday to Trinidad on a majority decision at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center.

But there was always this weight barrier. Mosley (32-0, 30 knockouts) was firmly established as the International Boxing Federation lightweight champion at 135 pounds. De La Hoya already had moved up to 147 and, if he had beaten Trinidad, was going to move up to 154 pounds. where David Reid, Fernando Vargas and Javier Castillejo were waiting.

But now, while De La Hoya waits to see how soon a Trinidad rematch can be put together, he considers his own weight. Earlier this week, he said he still plans to go to 154 and would come back to 147 to fight Trinidad. But De La Hoya’s promoter, Bob Arum, has also said that a Mosley fight is a definite possibility.

But none of that might matter if the 27-year-old Mosley fails to win tonight. In Rivera, he is facing a 30-year-old veteran with a 30-3-1 record and 19 knockouts. Most impressive is that he has been beaten only by De La Hoya, in 1997, and another former champion, Pernell Whitaker, who beat Rivera twice in 1996.

“I know that he has only lost to those two fighters,” Mosley said. “I know that he is very consistent and a great counterpuncher. He doesn’t have as much power as some fighters, but he makes up for that by throwing a lot of punches. He is workmanlike.”

The 5-foot-9 Mosley says the added weight merely puts him closer to his natural state. He walks around at 160 pounds, weighs about 155 when he enters the gym for a workout and leaves the gym having usually shed about five of those pounds.

FORUM BOXING HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

All the attention has been focused on the exit of the Lakers and Kings from the Inglewood facility, heading for the Staples Center in downtown L.A.

But there is another sport leaving. Forum Boxing, a local staple since 1982, will stage its 302nd and final show Monday night. The boxing program, which has been headquartered at the Great Western Forum, may continue in some form as a traveling show around Southern California. But its days as a regularly scheduled event in Inglewood will be history.

It had been scheduled to end with a semifinal match in the World Boxing Hall of Fame junior welterweight tournament, matching Henry Bruseles against Pat Thorns. But Bruseles has dropped out because of an injury. So Thorns will now fight Luis Perez for the tournament title in late November at the Arrowhead Pond, where Forum Boxing still has two shows scheduled.

Monday night’s final Forum card will feature a 10-round middleweight bout between Julio De La Cruz (12-1, 11 knockouts) and Tito Mendoza (15-3, 13 knockouts), and a 10-round lightweight bout matching Antonio Ramirez (14-1-4, 10 knockouts) against Rogelio Castaneda (12-2-1, three knockouts).

First fight is at 7:15.

QUICK JABS

The semi-main event on the Mosley-Rivera card, which begins at 5:30 p.m., is an IBF super-bantamweight title fight between champion Lehlo Ledwaba (28-1-1, 18 knockouts) of South Africa and challenger Edison Valencia (14-3, 13 knockouts) of Colombia. Gwen Adair will referee the match, which, it is believed, will make her the first woman to serve in that capacity for a major title fight in this country.

Carlos Bojorquez (9-1-3, six knockouts) will defend his California junior middleweight crown against Fidel Avendano (46-12-1, 28 knockouts) on Wednesday at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello on a card that begins at 7:30.