It's a brand new look for HBO's World Championship Boxing to kick off 2009. Tonight's fight is a welterweight championship fight between Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley in front of an impressive crowd of more than 20,000 fans at the Staple Center in Los Angeles.
Jim Lampley runs down the list of current welterweight champions and contenders. Interestingly, he includes Manny Pacquiao, the weight-hopping Paul Williams and the currently still retired Floyd Mayweather.
Earlier in the night, Larry Merchant sat down with Margarito. Tony says he did a lot of sparring and prepared properly for the fight. He says Mosley will be looking to do more boxing and less brawling than Miguel Cotto. Margarito also feels like tonight's fight will be a big one for his fans and his career.
Lampley and Emanuel Steward discuss some of the similarities between Mosley and Cotto. Steward thinks Shane has learned from watching Cotto's fight with Margarito.
Next up is Merchant's interview with Mosley, and Shane is honest in saying that while he feels great right now, he'll evaluate how much he still has left after tonight's fight. Mosley thinks using his jab may be the key to his chances to win. He talks a little bit about ignoring outside distractions, and a video package goes into more detail about Shane's BALCO-related troubles, his split with his father and his divorce.
The tale of the tape shows a two-inch height advantage for Margarito but a slight edge in reach for Mosley. Tony is 30 years old, while Shane is 37.
Sugar Ray Leonard, Mark Wahlberg, Joe Pesci and Sylvester Stallone are among the celebrities in attendance. Oscar De La Hoya is not in the house, as he is in Anaheim at the Affliction MMA pay-per-view.
Mosley comes out to "Live Your Life" By T.I. and Rihanna. It's his first fight with trainer Nazim Richardson, who is best known for helping train Bernard Hopkins. Margarito gets a huge crowd reaction as he enters to some traditional Mexican music.
Michael Buffer handles the introductions and we're all set to go.
Round One
Mosley looks like he has plenty of pep early on as he takes the fight to the champ. He lands some nice shots to the body and ties up. Now Margarito comes forward a bit. Shane digs in with an uppercut and there's more wrestling. Mosley really looks committed to a body attack. Mosley shows some good hand speed in tight and Tony throws right back. The ref is really busy right now. Nice left to the head by Margarito.
Franchise: 10-9 Mosley
Uatu: 10-9 Mosley
Spartan117: 10-9 Mosley
Round Two
Mosley starts the second working jabs. Margarito tries to go to the body but they immediately clinch. Shane is really making it ugly, which is to his benefit. Both men try to work from very close range. Tony just misses with a big right. Shane lands a quick combo and backs away. The fans express their displeasure with Shane's holding. Margarito lands a couple of shots but Shane fires right back. The ref warns Mosley for leading with his head.
Franchise: 10-9 Mosley
Uatu: 10-9 Mosley
Spartan117: 10-9 Mosley
Round Three
The fight has been fought at Mosley's pace so far. Shane backpedals quickly as Margarito digs in. Both fighters take some good swings in the middle of the ring. Tony lands an uppercut and complains about a headbutt again. Mosley lands a flashy combo with a nice right hand. He lands another good right but Margarito smiles. Tony goes back to his jab, which has been his main weapon so far. Mosley lands a hard right and a left before the bell, but Margarito seems unfazed.
Franchise: 10-9 Mosley
Uatu: 10-9 Mosley
Spartan117: 10-9 Mosley
Round Four
Harold Lederman has given all three rounds to Mosley so far. Jabs both ways open this round. Shane locks up to avoid Tony's shots along the ropes. Margarito lands a nice uppercut, but Mosley is clinching whenever he can. Mosley jabs and Margarito covers to block the follow-ups. Right-left combo as Tony comes forward. Left to the body and a big right upstairs by Mosley. That flurry may have won him this round. Another big right right at the bell for Shane.
Franchise: 10-9 Mosley
Uatu: 10-9 Mosley
Spartan117: 10-9 Mosley
Round Five
Margarito is bouncing around but he hasn't been comfortable on offense yet. He lands some jabs and tries the body. Left hook to the head by Mosley. Margarito reaches down for a combo and Shane attempts to respond. Right hook upstairs by Shane. Nice shots land for both men. Margarito really seems bothered by the wrestling. Left to the head brings blood from Tony's mouth, and Shane lands to the body as well.
Franchise: 10-9 Mosley
Uatu: 10-9 Mosley
Spartan117: 10-9 Mosley
Round Six
Tony's corner is begging him to work more. Shane lands a right to the head and circles away. He's getting in some sharp shots that are scoring even if they aren't slowing Margarito down. Every exchange is going at least slightly in Mosley's favor right now. Shane backs Tony up into the ropes and lands several big right hands. It's strange to see Margarito back on his heels.
Franchise: 10-9 Mosley
Uatu: 10-9 Mosley
Spartan117: 10-9 Mosley
Round Seven
Steward says Mosley can't miss with his right hand right now. He's measuring shots in the middle of the ring, though the ref has to stop it for a moment to fix Shane's glove. To his credit, Margarito is still standing and trying to throw. They battle hand to hand in the center. Jabs are followed by a sharp right to the head for Mosley. Both fighters score with left hands along the ropes. Tony shows a nice flurry and comes forward for his best offense in a while. The fans boo loudly as the ref warns Margarito for low shots. That may have been the closest round so far.
Franchise: 10-9 Mosley
Uatu: 10-9 Margarito
Spartan117: 10-9 Mosley
Round Eight
Let's see if Tony can carry over some momentum. Back to jabs for both men. Right hand upstairs for Shane. A left hand backs up Mosley for a second. Nice right hand for the champ in response to numerous jabs. Tony gets hit by another right as he comes in. The crowd is really trying to will Margarito back into the fight. Mosley lands a huge left-right combo and Tony is stunned. Shane pours it on and Margarito goes down! He wobbles to his feet just before the bell but he doesn't look too good.
Franchise: 10-8 Mosley
Uatu: 10-8 Mosley
Spartan117: 10-8 Mosley
Round Nine
We'll see what Margarito has left in the tank. Mosley is landing some mean shots right now. The ref steps in just as Tony goes down again, and it's all over.
The winner by TKO at 0:43 of Round Nine... and new WBA welterweight champion of the world... "Sugar" Shane Mosley.
Merchant asks Mosley if all of the distractions may have actually helped him. He gives a lot of credit to Richardson for coming up with a winning game plan. Shane says he knew Margarito was going to come forward and thus, the plan wasn't that complicated. When asked if he thought he could knock Margarito out, he simply replies that he always goes for the KO.
Turning to an obviously distraught Margarito, Merchant asks him what happened. He gives the credit to Mosley, and says even though his corner wanted to stop the fight after the eighth, he refused. As expected, he says Shane was bothering him by clinching on the inside. He also says Mosley studied him well. Asked about the possible Cotto rematch, he doesn't really answer, but says he'll raise his hands as the champion once again.
The announcers discuss the hand wrap controversy with Margarito before the fight. Apparently state athletic commission officials found a "hard plaster shell" being inserted into Margarito's glove after Richardson caught it and asked for it to be removed. Tony had to have his hands wrapped three times before everything was found to be kosher.
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18 comments:
interesting. margarito had illegal substances in his hand wraps and had to have them rewrapped
wooooo im 500 bux richer i bet on mosley.. damn shoulodof put moremoney down
hey that was a solid bet. 4-1 odds or something. I wouldn't have bet on shane I can tell you that.
where is ICUH8N? he's been vidicated as he has been a vocal Margarito critic.
If forced at gunpoint to make a bet I would have gone with Mosley due to the odds, but I would not have had the balls to do it myself.
Nice job Naji!
yeah the odds were high, but in line with what I thought would happen. Margarito beats down Cotto, and Cotto beat Shane. It's amazing to thing how long it took Shane to KO Mayorga, which led me to believe this wasn't going to go well for Shane.
Dead Wrong.
Margarito should take the tried and true rehabilitation plan and KO Mayorga in his next fight.
I've been around. I've kept quiet. A few guys I know get very personal when I talk about their beloved fighters. They're extremely mad at me right now for not worshipping Margarito right now, especially after all the shit I said after the Cotto fight. I've always thought he was overrated. If the rematch with Cotto does happen, I think Cotto would win in a very similar way as Mosley, with ease. Mayweather would have boxed circles around Margarito. I can't stand when people say Mayweather avoided Margarito, THAT WAS NEVER THE CASE. Just like when I saw Daniel Santos beat him, then Williams beat him, and now Mosley beat him, I NEVER SAW ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT HIM. I think Clottey would have beat him too if he didn't injure his hand. Whatever though.... From what I hear, Mosley's people are already set up to talk with Mayweather's people for a potential summer bout.
Seriously though, does anybody else see what I see (or don't see) in Margarito???? I think he's an OK fighter, but he's not THAT good. I'm probably the only Mexican that didn't jump on his bandwagon.
I don't want to speak for everyone, but I think I bought into the Margarito hype a bit after seeing what he did to Cotto. Going into that fight I just figured Cotto would break him down, and even though I think Cotto turned in one of his better boxing performances, I was definitely struck by the way he could not hurt Tony.
As it stands now, I'm seeing Margarito in some of the same light I saw Arutro Gatti, as a fighter good enough to hold titles as long as his match-ups fall just right but who lacks truly world class skills. Like Gatti, he fights a crowd-pleasing style that lends itself to firefights, but unlike Gatti, his combination of pressure and chin can psych out some of his opponents.
Maybe that won't happen as much now that Mosley destroyed some of his aura of invincibility. We shall see...
I always thought one of Tony's advantages is that he was awfully big and strong for welter. He seemed much bigger the Cotto. And even though Cotto was "better", the size wore him down.
Shane though is a strong guy too, and Tony wasn't able to bully him around like I thought he would. Paul Williams used his size to neutralize Tony too.
and if you can get past the size and toughness, then fighters with skills and speed like Shane, Williams, and Cotto for most of the fight, can exploit Tony's lack of it.
and one more thing. I think Gatti had more of that one punch knockout ability at those lower weights. Tony seems to steamroller people more.
I also think Tony throws more punches than Gatti did and is more of a pressure guy than Gatti.
Very true. I was using Gatti more as a measuring stick of "reputation vs. skill," where I think he and Margarito are very similar. Stylistically they are pretty different.
I think in general people put too much weight on the last win in regards to a place on the pound for pound list.
Margarito beat Cotto fair and square, and flew up the charts.
Quintana beat Williams fair and square and there was no rush to jack him up the charts.
I don't want to speak for ICUH8N, but I believe he would agree that Margarito may have gotten too much pound for pound credit for the win over Cotto. Margarito is a decent fighter, but more of a great warrior than great boxer.
mosley has been on a nice little roll. here's his fights since 1/1/2006
Vargas TKO 12
Vargas KO 6
Collazo UD 12
Cotto UDloss 12
Mayorga KO 12
Margarito TKO 9
There can be mixed opinions about the quality of some of those fighters when he fought them, but that's not a bad string of fights
the first fight should be Vargas TKO 10
Now they're talking Mosley-Clottey, and Margarito-Cotto in June, with the winners facing each other later on... These are just "talks" right now.
mosley-clottey? that's not going to exactly be a "mega fight" as far as a promotion and money.
I would think mosley would have his eye on the pac-hatton winner or one Pretty Boy Floyd Money Mayweather to get the most money. Then maybe Cotto.
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