By Manuel Perez: Shane Mosley proved one thing last week on January 24th, namely that he can beat Antonio Margarito when he’s clinching him often from eight to ten times per round. When Mosley was draped all over Margarito, Shane proved that he’s a better fighter than him at that style of non-fighting. But Mosley’s win didn’t prove that he’s a better overall fighter when you remove the clinching from the action.
If that were the case, I think Margarito would have beaten him soundly and quite possibly by knockout. In stopping Margarito’s high flying offense, Mosley used a constant punch and grab technique that kept Margarito from responding to the fast punches that Mosley was throwing in the fight.
Accustomed to positioning himself in close next to opponents, Margarito was unable to do this against Mosley because Shane would wrap him up in a clinch and walk him to the ropes, holding tight. If the referee had warned and then penalized Mosley, Margarito would have had the opportunity to get his shots off and would have stood a much better chance at winning the fight.
I think the fight would have been entirely different had the clinching from Mosley been taken out of the fight, and I’m hoping that boxing starts considering taking away the clinch from the sport. Margarito is an unstoppable force when he’s able to fight without being clinched. If Margarito is able to get his shots off, he’s still probably far and away the best welterweight in the division.
Mosley is a good fighter, skilled at taking away an opponent’s offense by clinching and moving constantly, but he probably would have stood no chance if he had to fight without clinching. Oh, I’m sure he would have come up with another strategy to try and win, maybe fighting out of a super low crouch below the waist for an extended amount of time.
Margarito is a punching machine and aside from someone like Paul Williams, there’s probably no other welterweight on the planet that could stand in with him for a full 12 rounds without having to resort to clinching to try and stop the action.
Clinching shouldn’t be allowed, and if the referees were doing their job the way they’re supposed to, they would be eradicating this practice by penalizing them or disqualifying them for this practice. Make no mistake, though, the fight would have likely been much different if Margarito had been able to fight without being clinched by Mosley so often.
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