by LLCoolP: On May 5th of this year Shane Mosley will step into the ring for what could be his last bout. Many people predict this fight does little more than to clarify to those interested, that Shane’s ability to be truly competitive at a high level is now far outstripped by his desire to make financial gains off his faded but well earned famous name.
The certainty of Mosley’s imminent failure which some writers have embedded in their blogs and articles is so cast iron that they serve to make the reader feel his loss is a fore gone conclusion. No one can be that certain of anything, not about a sports event, not about life and absolutely not about a boxing match between two hard hitters like we are discussing here. I suggest these writers would make very poor impartial open minded jury members.
Against the premise of a sealed and delivered fore gone conclusion is the below.
“You’re only as good as your last fight….” Maybe, maybe not and certainly not always. Was Juan Manuel Marquez as good as his last fight when he lost to Chris John in 2006 – remember Marquez Diaz 2009. Was Erik Morales never “El Terrible” again after Zahir Raheem in 2005, remember Morales Maidana 2011. Some are never good again after a poor performance, but some are. Reasonable doubt.
But how about Shane’s last 3 fights. We have a bad loss to Floyd Mayweather, a draw with Sergio Mora and a full retreat loss to Manny Pacquiao.
Disappointment was considerable with the loss to Mayweather, sure because it was one sided but also because Shane’s previous fight he had annihilated Antonio Margarito. After his January 2009 performance we were high on Shane’s ability, strength and resolve. However Mayweather wasn’t and isn’t Margarito . Style wise he is completely different, opposite in many ways as you never know where Floyd will be, he is defensive minded, has very good hand speed and is not a pressure fighter. When May 2010 came I failed to recognize styles make fights and was surprised Shane did so poorly. So in May 2012 I won’t be surprised if Mosley does well opposite Alvarez a fighter who style wise has much more in common with Margarito than Mayweather. Reasonable doubt.
Shane’s second to last fight was against Sergio Mora in September 2010. What we wanted and Shane needed after such a one sided loss was a meeting with an opponent with the same characteristics that he has historically been competitive against . A fighter who holds his ground and even comes forward. Instead through what I will criticize as a managerial blunder we got the one Mexican who runs from a fight and delivered more feints than a Justin Bieber concert. What was apparent was Shane’s impressive ability to literally run after a non engaging opponent for 12 long rounds, even after multiple clinches between the usual welterweight and the taller sometime middleweight leaning on him. Luckily for entertainment sakes Alvarez and Mora have very different ideas on how to get the “W”. He didn’t look good a against Mora, but who does. Reasonable doubt.
A year ago Shane fought Manny Pacquiao. Previous fights between opponents with styles similar to the two has more often than not produced fireworks. All I can say is someone didn’t check the powder. It fizzed…….slightly. Shane Mosley has lost before, but he’s never abandoned his ingrained style and retreated as we witnessed at the MGM Grand that night. A probable reason for this is he tasted Pacquiao’s unique power and realized he couldn’t win slugging with the champion, but a possible reason that cannot be ruled out, taking into consideration the manner in which he lost is the post fight report of his injured Achilles preventing correct offensive set up. What would I have done if I injured myself in training for a multimillion dollar payday that wasn’t guaranteed to be rescheduled. Well I would of fought anyway as well. In ability and experience Alvarez is no Manny Pacquiao and an injury was a possible contributing factor. Reasonable doubt.
This case put forward is not stating I know Shane Mosley is going to win or lose, it’s not even delivering a prediction on who I think will win or lose, its objective is to attempt to show enough reasonable doubt that the boxing fans recognize that in this fight failure for Mosley is not a cast iron certainty.
Reasonable doubt.
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