If Shane Mosley was a betting man, he says he would bet that RING No. 1-rated pound-for-pound fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. will emerge victorious over RING and WBC junior middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez when they meet on Sept. 14 at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“My real answer is that I don’t know who is going to win. That is my real answer,” said Mosley, who turns 42 in September. “I mean, there can be a result either way. In the beginning, I was leaning toward Mayweather, but Canelo has a real chance.”

After scoring consecutive stoppage wins over Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito, Mosley was unanimously decisioned by Mayweather (44-0, 26 knockouts) in May of 2010.

After having battled to a draw with Sergio Mora and losing by unanimous decision to Manny Pacquiao, Mosley took almost a year off before returning in May of 2012 for a unanimous decision loss to Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KOs).

“I noticed that when I fought Canelo, he had gotten better than from the tapes that I had watched,” said Mosley of Alvarez, 23, who is coming off a unanimous decision victory over previously unbeaten Austin Trout in April.

“I noticed that he had gotten better each time that he fights. I thought Austin Trout would give him a lot more trouble. Austin Trout gave Miguel Cotto a lot of trouble and beat Cotto, and Canelo rose to the occasion and he beat Austin Trout. Canelo sort of fights to his opposition, so this could be a tremendous fight.”

Mayweather, 36, earned the RING’s 147-pound championship after defending his WBC belt with a unanimous decision over Robert Guerrero in May.

Prior to facing Guerrero, Mayweather had his nose bloodied during a unanimous decision over Cotto that was fought from close range for the WBA’s 154-pound belt, which will be on the line against Alvarez.

“The thing with the Cotto fight and Mayweather is that Mayweather went to war with Cotto more than he normally does, and I’m not sure that he will do that against Canelo,” said Mosley.

“But I’m not convinced that Floyd is just going to walk through Canelo in a landslide, although it could happen that way, because Floyd does have the ability to box and pot-shot the whole night, and if he does that, then maybe Canelo wouldn’t be able to do nothing. But I think also that Canelo has the ability to be able to touch Floyd as well.”

Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya, who lost by split decision to Mayweather in May of 2007, has predicted that Alvarez will stop Mayweather in less than eight rounds. But Mosley, who has twice decisioned De La Hoya, does not see Mayweather being knocked out by Alvarez.

“No, I can’t really see that happening. I can’t see Floyd getting knocked out. For Floyd to be knocked out, I would be very, very surprised,” said Mosley, whose right hand staggered Mayweather in the second round of their fight.

“This is a fight where I actually want to see what happens. If I was a betting man, I would bet and think that Mayweather was going to win, but I just really can’t say that with confidence.”

Meanwhile, Mosley (47-8-1, 39 KOs) is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Mexico’s Pablo Cesar Cano in May.

“I can say that right now, I feel better than when I fought Floyd, Pacquiao and Canelo,” said Mosley, who has agreed to terms for an Oct. 23 fight against Anthony Mundine.

“The difference with me now is that I’m not injured. That’s the difference, not being able to do what I can do now that I’m more mobile. I was seeing things, but I wasn’t able to follow up on them. That’s going to make a big difference in my next fight.”

Photos by Naoki Fukuda; Tom Hogan-HoganPhotos/Golden Boy Promotions

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]