MAYWEATHER DOMINATES MOSLEY IN LOPSIDED WIN
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 02 May 2010
Although no title was at stake after he refused to pay the sanctioning fee and only his reputation and unbeaten record were on the line, Floyd Mayweather Jr enhanced both with a lopsided, unanimous twelve round decision over WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley before a large, celebrity star studded crowd of 15,117 although it was not a sell-out with the registered capacity of 17,157 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday, Manila Time.
In fact it was less than the 15,930 fans drawn by ?Fighter of the Decade? and pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in his 12th round TKO win over Miguel Cotto and nowhere near the almost 51,000 fans who trooped to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium to watch ?The Event" between Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey who was nowhere near the drawing capacity of Mosley.
All three judges scored the fight for Mayweather with Adelaide Byrd and Dave Moretti having Mayweather the winner 119-109 with Robert Hoyle scoring it 118-110 which was our own unofficial scorecard along with boxing analyst Atty. Ed Tolentino who covered the fight for ABS-CBN Global on its widely-watched, The Filipino Channel in the Middle-East, Europe and Australia on a pay-per-view basis.
The fight card titled ?Who R U Picking? was telecast by Solar Sports on its own sports cable channel and on Solar TV as well as GMA 7 nationwide in the Philippines with Chino Trinidad and Quinito Henson as panelists.
A disappointing development for Filipino fans in the country was that pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao who had committed to sit on the Solar TV panel and which Solar had announced at a pre-fight press conference failed to show up for the coverage. No reason was given for the no-show although it was believed his political campaign for a seat in Congress from the province of Sarangani prevented him from taking time off.
In the fight itself Mayweather Jr put on a show after getting tagged and hurt in the second round by a solid right straight and then a right hook by Mosley who failed to finish him off as Mayweather grabbed Mosley?s hand in an arm-lock that forced Mosley to wrestle free from the clutches of Mayweather with referee Kenny Bayless failing to step in and break up the clinch or caution Mayweather.
Mayweather?s corner instructed him to box rather than try to get into exchanges with Mosley and when he settled down to follow uncle Roger Mayweather?s instructions, Mayweather quickly turned the fight around to sail through the succeeding ten rounds.
The second round that saw a wobbly Mayweather cling on for dear life appeared to be Mosley?s last chance as the tense 38 year old tried to look for the one big shot that never came even as Mayweather counter-punched with precision and often shunned his defensive genius to get aggressive and underscore his skill and power.
Profanities were in abundance in the Mayweather corner with his uncle and trainer Roger Mayweather and his adviser Leonard Ellerbe punctuating their advice with the F-word often, aside from using it to deride Mosley?s abilities.
Mosley who appeared to falter and tire out as the fight progressed tried to get his hands going but simply couldn?t summon the energy or the rhythm to connect with any regularity let alone to hurt Mayweather.
Mayweather continued to use a stinging jab and a solid right hand to bludgeon Mosley beating him to the punch with his remarkable quickness highlighted by a delightful one-two combination in the sixth round at which point trainer Nazaam Richardson cautioned Mosley not to look for a one punch knockout because a knockout would come down the road.
Bayless who seemed to allow Mayweather to get away with holding and using his elbow and forearm surprisingly slapped Mosley with a hard warning in round eight for shoving Mayweather and later on in the round for the first time cautioned Mayweather for throwing elbows.
It was all Mayweather in the championship rounds as he toyed with Mosley who, to his credit, took some solid punches but hung on to the bitter end.
In a post-fight interview with HBO?s Larry Merchant, Mayweather indicated he was prepared to fight Pacquiao which is the fight boxing aficionados and the media have been clamoring for but once again said it would be conditioned on the reigning pound-for-pound king taking the random drug tests.
Mayweather said ?All I want is for everyone to fight on an even playing field. That?s all I ask. I just wanted to be treated fair.? He rambled on ? If everyone in the sport of boxing is clean, then take the tests. If Manny Pacquiao takes the blood and urine tests, we can make the fight happen for all of the fans.?
What Merchant failed to point out and Mayweather conveniently forgot was that Pacquiao agreed to take the random drugs tests 24 days before a fight and right after the fight in his dressing room but that Mayweather insisted on a 14-day cut-off period.
Considering the reported 20 blood and urine tests taken by the US Anti-Doping Agency on Mayweather and Mosley and the fact that at times it took hours to complete, fight fans appreciate Pacquiao?s reluctance to have his relentless training regimen disrupted by invasive blood tests and the fact that the testers take far more than the teaspoon of blood that Golden Boy Promotions owner Oscar De La Hoya and CEO Richard Schaefer claimed was extracted. The HBO 24/7 series showed that several vials of blood were taken at each visit which, in Pacquiao?s mind, would weaken him prior to a fight.
Beyond that the cost was regarded as prohibitive with an initial figure of $20,000 being mentioned.
Former two-division world champion Gerry Penalosa said he was confident Pacquiao will knock Mayweather out if ever they should meet. While conceding that Mayweather had improved since his tune-up fight with a much smaller Juan Manuel Marquez, Penalosa said the speed of Pacquiao and his relentless aggression plus his punching power would ultimately end the unbeaten streak of Mayweather. However, Penalosa who brushed aside the random blood tests as "nonsense" said Pacquiao would have to train hard and stay away from any distractions should he face Mayweather.
Top photo: Floyd Mayweather Jr. celebrates his victory over Shane Mosley, rear, after their WBA welterweight boxing match Saturday, May 1, 2010, in Las Vegas. Mayweather won by unanimous decision. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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