By Randy De La O
It’s an God awful thing to see a great fighter age in the ring, especially if it’s a fighter whose career has been based on speed, boxing ability, power and a huge heart. That was the case Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as Sugar Shane Mosley was reduced to a mere sparring partner by the faster, quicker thinking and (surprise-surprise) much more aggressive and perhaps, most importantly, a younger Floyd Mayweather Jr. You first began to get a hint of what was to come when Mosley’s trainer, Nazim Richardson began to wrap Mosley’s hand just minutes before he was to enter the ring. Mosley entered the ring dry. Not a good way to begin a fight.
The first round saw both fighters circling tentatively but Mayweather seemed much calmer much more relaxed. Mosley, on the other hand was fighting in an uncharacteristic manner; jerky, moving his hands needlessly, and with absolutely no fluidity . I had a bad feeling. When the second round came it looked like Mosley was going to take charge of the fight, he landed several crisp, hard right hands that seemed to hurt Mayweather. That second round proved to be his “Last Hurrah” at least as far as this fight was concerned. From the 3rd round on it was "Money" Mayweather taking the fight to Mosley. Each round became a carbon copy of the last, with Mayweather doing pretty much as he pleased with Mosley.
At times Mosley appeared completely clueless, vague and befuddled, stopping at one point after a break, with his hands down and talking to either to either referee Kenny Bayless or Mayweather, just asking to be hit. That’s exactly what Mayweather did. It’s what he was supposed to do. Mosley never did get into the fight, physically he seemed weak and his punches lacked any real conviction. Mosley never committed his punches. Mentally,, as the fight wore on Mosley began to break down and round by round he went further into survival mode, something I thought I would never see. Mayweather had an answer and then some for everything Mosley did. It was tough for me to watch.
Maybe Frank Sinatra said it best in his song “That’s Life”
“You’re riding high in April
and Shot down in May”
Truer words were never sung.
While I’m not quite ready to agree with Mayweather that he is the best fighter of all time; better than Ali, better than Robinson, better than Duran or better than Leonard I will concede that he is one two of the best fighters of his generation and I’m swallowing awful hard just saying that. Still, I have to give credit to Mayweather, I didn’t think he had it in him to stand up to Mosley but he did what he said he was to do. He out boxed and out fought Mosley and he made it look easy. I give him credit for his behavior outside of the ring. It would have been easy for Mayweather to continue to torment Mosley with well placed words but he chose not to. He showed some class last night. He also showed that he has more going on inside of him than I previously gave him credit for.
After Mayweather’s fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, Mosley jumped into the ring to challenge Mayweather and Max Kellerman, more or less, never really allowed Mayweather to enjoy his victory. It didn’t bother me so much then, in fact for that fight, and for that moment it seemed almost appropriate but last night it did bother me. Larry Merchant hammered him incessantly on the drug testing and Manny Pacquiao. Merchant should have just let Floyd revel in his victory. He deserved that much. Sometimes the Larry Merchants of the world need to know when to shut up.
The fight didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. My reasons for picking Mosley over Mayweather were sound and valid but as the afore mentioned Larry Merchant has said ad nauseam “Boxing is the theater of the unexpected” and last night proved just that.
So now we sit back and wait for Manny and Floyd to hammer out their agreement and make their fight happen. Hopefully before the end of the year. I’m figuring that after Saturday the odds may just favor Mayweather. I don’t expect Mosley to relent on the Olympic style drug testing or anything else for that matter. Like Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya before him, he is a shrewd and tough negotiator. Let’s see how this plays out.
