By Aaron Klein: Looking like only a shell of his former self, Shane Mosley (45-5, 38 KOs) stopped Ricardo Mayorga (28-7-1, 22 KOs) in the final second of the 12th round to win the WBA Inter-Continental light middleweight title on Saturday night at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. At the time of the fight, Mosley, 37, was ahead on the two of the three judges’ scorecards. However, don’t be fooled by that, because Mosley appeared to be well behind in the fight, perhaps as much as eight by my scorecard.

Mayorga was by far the better fighter and was roughing an old-looking Mosley up, outworking him in virtually every round of the fight, and land the much harder shots. However, in the 12th round, Mayorga got sloppy and was dropped by a right hand with 15 seconds to go in the round. Mayorga got up, took a standing eight count and then was hit by several more big shots, and was sent down for the final time with a nice left hand from Mosley. The referee David Mendoza then stopped the bout at 2:59 of the 12th round.

Mayorga, 35, looked much larger than Mosley, and reportedly he weighed close to 170 on the night of the fight after rehydrating. The size, the power seemed to be too much for Mosley to handle in the early going, as Mayorga pounded Mosley with clubbing shots in the first two rounds, staggering Mosley at one point with a right hand in the first. Mosley did little in the 2nd round, taking a lot shots in the way of combinations from Mayorga, and occasionally firing back with one shot of his own.

This trend continued in the 3rd round, with the stronger Mayorga often rushing in and hitting Mosley with several big shots and then moving out of range. Both fighters often bumped heads when Mayorga would come forward, but luckily no cuts were occurred.

After appearing to lose the first five rounds by large margin, Mosley finally got untracked in the 6th round after Mayorga complained about another head butt that had occurred. The clash of heads seemed to cause Mayorga to lose his mental focus for the last two minutes of the round, in which he stopped punching and put his hands to his sides to allow Mosley free shots at him. It was oddly reminiscent of Mayorga’s fight with Felix Trinidad in 2004 when Mayorga put his hands down to his sides and dared Trinidad to hit him with his best shots.

Trinidad, naturally, obliged and ended up staggering Mayorga with a left hook to the head. In the case of Mosley, however, Mayorga didn’t get hurt, but he succeeded in giving away the round and messing up the momentum that he had built up in the fight. The first five rounds weren’t close, however, as Mayorga had beaten an old looking Mosley like a drum, beating him to the punch and making it look easy.

Mosley fought well in the 7th round as well, landing some good right hands and left hooks to the head. However, this was the last round that I in good conscience could give Mosley, even though I like him a lot as a fighter, for he continued to take a beating from Mayorga from rounds eight until the twelfth round.

Mayorga continued to be the busier fighter, landing the harder shots in the 8th though 12th, and hitting Mosley with some beautiful shots. For his part, Mosley looked like an old dog, unable to punch and moving around the ring like he had a lot of dead fast twitch nerve tissue in his muscles. Physically, other than the aged look to him, he appeared to be the same fighter he was, but when it came to letting his hands go, he appeared to be completely shot.

In the 11th round, possibly knowing that he was losing (forget the judges’ scores, Mosley was losing, believe me) the fight in a big way, Mosley fought hard in the round and succeeded in landing more punches. However, Mayorga landed the much harder shots and almost matched Mosley’s work rate.

In the 12th round, Mayorga was doing well until he got hit with a big right hand that seemed to hurt him slightly. Moments later, Mosley dropped him with a big shot to the head. Mayorga, badly hurt, then got up but was put back down after getting hit with a big left hand by Mosley.

With this win, Mosley now may end up fighting WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, a fight that I would give Mosley zero chance at winning after watching how shot he looked against Mayorga on Saturday night. Although Mosley may say that he didn’t look his best because of Mayorga’s style of fighting, that doesn’t explain Mosley’s failure to pull the trigger on his punches. He looked like the classic case of a fighter that had gotten old, and couldn’t let his hands go like he once did earlier in his career.

After the fight, Mosley said “I wore him down,” which I don’t particularly aggress with because Mosley appeared to be the one worn down in the last two rounds, not Mayorga.

I personally think Mosley is going to take a beating if he fights Margarito, and I hope for his sake that he doesn’t decide on doing this. Mosley needs to sit down and watch his fight with Mayorga, and smell the coffee. He doesn’t have the skills anymore to beat the best fighters in the division, and I’m not just talking about Margarito. Mosley would get destroyed by a whole slew of welterweights and light middleweights out there, and he needs to get a clue and retire before he gets hurt badly. If not for the last second knockout, I had him losing the fight to Mayorga.

The thing of it is, Mayorga’s not even a top fighter as far as I’m concerned and the way Mosley struggled against him, it seems to suggest that Mosley doesn’t have it anymore. I wouldn’t mind seeing him continue to fight, but mainly in the old timer’s circuit with fighters like Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones, Fernando Vargas and Felix Trinidad. I could care less if they fight each other until they’re fifty, but not against younger fighters with more energy and ability that he has in his weary body.