By William Mackay: Having a lot of confidence is a good thing, although income cases it can go a little overboard when a fighter deceives himself about his faded ability. That is never more the case in three-division champion Shane Mosley (45-5, 38 KOs), who will be seeking yet another title on January 24th against Antonio Margarito (37-5, 27 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California.
Mosley, 37, whom has said that he feels that he had enough left to beat Margarito and take his title, went one step further by saying in an interview with John Martinez from Ironboxing.com, “I hit harder than Margarito.” Who knows? Maybe Mosley does in fact hit harder than Margarito with a single punch, but what meaning does that have when the punches come in far fewer than they used to?
Mosley, at one time, had an excellent work rate, and was a fighter that fought hard in three minutes of every round, throwing flurries, landing power punches and moving well around the ring against fighters like Oscar De La Hoya and Antonio Diaz.
However, if Mosley’s last fight is any indication of what he currently has left of his once great talent, then I think he needs to reconsider going through with this fight against Margarito. Mosley had all the hallmarks of a shot fighter in his last bout, a 12th round TKO over Ricardo Mayorga in September.
The hand speed was diminished, his once solid defense was nearly nonexistent, his work rate was terrible and he seemed unable to pull the trigger on his punches, even when opportunities would present themselves to him over and over again.
While it’s nice that Mosley was able to summon up what was left of his once great talent and score a TKO in the 12th with one second remaining, it only seemed to forestall the inevitable about his fading ability. Mosley looked bad in the fight, against a fighter that he should, if he were really at the top of his game, have taken out in six rounds or less. Instead, Mayorga made Mosley looked old, beating him to the punch in almost every round and battering him with hard shots.
In a comment that made Mosley seem way out of touch with reality, he said to Martinez, “I feel like I can go for seven more years, which I probably will do because I love fighting that much and it’s in my blood. I feel real good right now.”
Seven more years? How about one fight against Margarito, which will probably end with Mosley bloody and flat out on the canvas, knocked out, and then maybe a few fights against the old Lions of the boxing world, such as De La Hoya, Roy Jones Jr. and Felix Trinidad.
Beyond that, I see no reason for Mosley to continue fighting. He would probably lose to the other welterweight champions, Joshua Clottey and Andre Berto, although not quite so bad as he’s probably going to be losing to Margarito. Mosley wants the fight fights, so I have little doubts that he wouldn’t go after one or both of them in order to capture another title.
However, I think he’s crazy for doing it. He doesn’t need money anymore, and now that his hand speed and work rate has dropped off, his lack of defense is never more apparent than it is now. Like Roy Jones Jr., Mosley has gotten by with incredible hand speed most of his career, which has allowed him to take shortcuts with his defense.
But now that his speed is slipping away, he’s getting hit flush with big shots much more often than he did in the prime of his career. Against Margarito, without his speed working for him, Mosley is going to be greatly handicapped boxer, one that’s only chance at winning is if he can run and pot shot the entire 12 rounds of the fight.
That’s not going to happen. And the beating that Mosley will likely take won’t be a pretty one. It will be the type that will leave his face a bloody mess, and probably make it clear to him, finally, that he needs to get out of the game because it’s passed him by. Under the best case scenario, I see Mosley winning a couple of rounds, maybe three if he’s got a sympathetic judge on his side, but no more than that. More likely, he’ll lose every round of the fight. That is, if he doesn’t end of getting taken out, which is what I’m predicting.
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