|
|
 |
|
MIRACLE WORKER  SHANE MOSLEY TAKES A BOW after demolishing Antonio Margarito in 9 |
A Stunning Upset Launches
the 2009 Boxing Season
of TheColumnists.com
No, there just isn't anything sweeter than watching a great fighter whose best days are supposed to be behind him climb into the ring a 4-1 underdog and literally demolish the world champion in nine savage rounds before the largest crowd to ever fill L.A.'s Staples Stadium.
"Sugar" Shane Mosley was the miracle worker Saturday night as he meticulously ripped and tore the WBA welterweight title from tough Mexican slugger Antonio Margarito, then finished off the once-predatory puncher, handing Margarito his first knockout defeat before a stunned crowd of partisan Latino fans.
Mosley, who's 37, was supposed to be maybe one or two fights away from oblivion, no longer the sweet boxer-puncher who defeated Oscar de la Hoya, no longer the flawless fighter who formerly held the world lightweight, welterweight and light middleweight crowns. Plagued by charges of performance-enhancing drugs in recent months, assailed by his ex-wife in a messy divorce and starting all over again with a new trainer for this big fight, Mosley was expected to be too "conflicted" to keep his focus on beating Margarito.
Forget all that and erase all memories of it. The Shane Mosley who pole-axed Margarito Saturday night was a brilliant fighter at the top of his form. He was quicker than the younger and much taller champ, frequently stepping inside Margarito's kill zone to whop the champ savagely in the midsection, then follow up with quick whacks to the face. Mosley timed his right hand power punches so skillfully that he seldom failed to land them square on the champ's jaw.
Meanwhile, Margarito kept on coming, but failing to ever shake Mosley up with his own power punches, which were supposed to be much more devastating than anything Mosley could summon up. For one thing, he seldom found any part of Mosley to land them on. Mosley finally put Margarito down in the eighth and if it hadn't come near the end of the round, would have finished the job right then. Margarito was no match for Mosley's finishing rush in the ninth, takikg several punishing blows to the head before the referee stepped in and halted the slaughter.
As HBO's savvy Larry Merchant observed earlier in the bout, "Margarito eats those punches like M&M's." Known to be indestructible, Margarito isn't. Mosley was getting to him regularly with powerful short punches that rocked the Mexican to pieces.
What makes this incredible upset so strange is that Margarito had stomped the bejesus out of Miguel Cotto last year when Cotto was believed to be the best welterweight in the world, a great boxer-puncher who usually outclassed, then kayoed his foes. But Margarito pounded Cotto into dust, giving him his first kayo loss.
Before that, though, Cotto had won a close, but fair points decision over Mosley in their own title fight. If Mosley couldn't beat Cotto, but Margarito humiliated him, it didn't figure Mosley would beat Margarito. But, clearly, the smart Mosley had studied the films of Cotto's defeat and figured out what he might do that Cotto failed to do against the oncoming Margarito.
This crowd-pleasing victory in front of more than 20,000 screaming fans surely puts Mosley back in the running for big money fights again. Mosley had come down in weight to the 147-pound welterweight division, which is probably his ideal weight class, so he should stay there and become the division's biggest attraction. I see no point in a rematch with Margarito, who didn't win a round on my card.
Altogether, it started the new boxing year off with a bang--and revived the flagging career of a fighter who has always given his best and should be able to carve a pretty lofty place for himself among the all-time greats with a few more wins like this one.
©2009 by Ron Miller. The illustration is an artist's depiction of a wire service photo. This column first posted Jan. 26, 2009.
You can comment
on this column online. Please address your message to either
"The Editors" or Ron Miller. To send an email, click
here and don't forget to mention Ron's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
|
|
|
Archives |
|
|