Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora fight to boring draw
Fights can go all kinds of ways. Sometimes you put two mediocre guys in the ring together and you get a great fight. And sometimes you pit two stars against each other and you get a completely overrated
bout.
That was the case Saturday, as “Sugar” Shane Mosley took on Sergio Mora. After the fight, which was scored a draw, some felt Mora won convincingly, while other felt Mosley took it, if not convincingly,
clearly. But all felt it was a terrible matchup.
One judge, Kermit Kayless, scored the bout 115-113 in favour for Mora. David Denkin scored it 116-112 for Mosley. And finally Dr. Lou Moret, the only experienced judge in the group, had it at an even
114-114.
Despite both fighters showing excellent heart and courage in the past, the Los Angeles crowd was booing by the third round on this occasion. Mora (22-1, 6 KOs) looked to try to win a decision, but thought
he could do so without throwing punches. Mosley (46-6, 39 KOs), on the other hand, 39 and coming off a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., looked every bit his age and was out of steam by the ninth round.
After the fight the judges were criticized by the HBO team, and many felt that they deserved it. Michael Marley of the Boxing Examiner as well as the Bad Left Hook boxing team had Mosley ahead for the
decision, even though it was far from a spectacular one. The reality is that both fighters looked lousy, but at least Mosley tried to engage Mora.
After the fight Mora said that he wished to utilize a sound defense against Mosley. “This is boxing, defense counts.” However, Mora, who is a fair defensive fighter, could not effectively utilize his
defense to generate opportunities, which is what the great defensive fighters do. Guys like Floyd Mayweather Jr. or before him Pernell Whitaker pounce on openings created by their defensive superiority, whereas Mora is simply no Mayweather or Whitaker.
With Mora opting for defense and inactivity, Mosley was the aggressor, but he didn’t look like the same guy who has been called the best fighter in the world. Mosley is a marketable asset and has proven
a fan favourite, but this fight more than any others showed an age factor that places him closer to Bernard Hopkins than a young prospect like Saul Alvarez. He looked spirited, sure, but finished.
“I knew he was trying to outpoint me, but he didn’t really engage the way I thought he would,” Mosley said, who had a 161-93 advantaged in landed punches according to CompuBox. “It was hard to get the
knockout when he was moving like that.”
Mora too commented on some of the trouble he found in Mosley. “I’m used to fighting guys with longer arms and he has short, compact, strong arms. When guys miss, and they miss by a lot, I have a chance
to come in. But he has such short, compact arms that when he missed, he was ready to come back with something hard right away.”
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