Magic Mayweather mesmerises Mosley
It was mayday in more ways than one in Las Vegas on Saturday, as Floyd Mayweather Jnr produced a boxing master-class to defeat Shane Mosley with a virtuoso display.
The biggest ego in boxing won every round bar one and had “Sugar Shane” frustrated all night with his slick counter-punching. The only moment of doubt arose in the second round when Mosley produced a sharp right that tagged the former multi-weight champ right on the button. However Mayweather rallied well to comfortably out-box his opponent for the duration of the bout and maintain his perfect record.
Talk will now inevitably return to the Manny Pacquiao super-fight that every single person on the planet wants to see. “Pacman’s” royal credentials are now at stake because Mayweather produced such a scintillating spectacle that it may have crowned him pound-for-pound king once again.
Saturday’s fight was billed as a classic, but in truth Mayweather outclassed Mosley. At 38 years of age “Sugar Shane’s” trademark pace has dropped off a bit, but he still has enough in the tank to trouble most fighters. Yet the majority of his attacks were met by a stern defence and returned in kind as Mosley cut an increasingly forlorn figure in the ring.
The only high point for Sugar Shane was when he made Mayweather lose his cool in the second with his stinging right and a quick combination soon after that rocked “Money”. However like a warrior Mayweather took the attacks on the chin, just as everyone thought he was about to be acquainted with the canvas for the first time in his career.
It was arguably the toughest moment of Mayweather’s career and although the self-satisfied welterweight wobbled a little he showed true durability to have shrugged it off by the next round.
That was about as good as it got for Mosley. He kept going all the way to the end changing his tactics from chipping away to looking for a big finish, but every attack left him flustered and frustrated as Mayweather battened down the hatches and came back faster and stronger.
This was Mayweather at his absolute best. He answered the critics that said he can only fight off the back foot by being the aggressor and stalking Mosley down. He looked effortless within his new style and picked off Mosley all night.
From the opening bell Money’s shot selection was nothing short of superb. He began to wear down Mosley with snappy punches in the third and fourth and in the eighth caught his opponent with a whomper-stomper of a right after Mosley took his eyes off the prize while appealing to the ref for a stoppage. From then on in the lightning punches rained down on Mosley who seemed to have punched himself out and was glad to hear the final bell at the end.
The only downside is this fight came when Mosley was past his prime and he looked a bit leggy as the fight wore on as he walked into Mayweather quick-fire shots. Yet he put in a dogged performance and scrapped through to survive at the end, despite the towel in his corner looming large for at least the last two rounds. The cards came up 119-109, 119-109, 118-110, a unanimous decision that wouldn’t have surprised Paris Hilton or any of her celebrity friends who packed the MGM.
So all roads now lead to a Pacquiao v Mayweather showdown. After the fight Mayweather seemed to have not budged on his views saying "If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight, it's not hard to find me. If Manny Pacquiao will take the blood and urine tests, we can make the fight happen for all the fans.
"If he doesn't, we don't have a fight. I'm not going out chasing fighters.
"If the fans want to see that happen, I want to make it happen but we have to have a level playing field. If every athlete is clean in the sport of boxing, take the test”.
Why he is on a one-man crusade to clean up boxing nobody knows, but they need to make this fight happen quickly. Mosley was 38 by the time he stepped in the ring with Mayweather, right now Pacman is 31 and Money is 33, they don’t want to wait until they are past their peaks.
This fight showcased how unstoppable Mayweather looks. Of course he has always known this and is probably wondering why mere mortals are even bothering to challenge him.
If he was to fight and beat Pacquiao he could become the first person to explode as the result of a swollen ego.
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