INDEED, you learn a lot more about people when they are faced with adversity and attrition. And last Sunday, in that two-minute span in the second round where Shane Mosley was bludgeoning Floyd Mayweather Jr. with huge right hands, some light was shed on the nagging question about how the latter would do against Manny Pacquiao.
First off, being a better finisher than Mosley, had it been Pacquiao in there who had Mayweather?s knees buckling, he would have finished the job in that very same round.
The difference is stamina. Pacquiao would have jumped right on the ?Money? and wouldn?t have relented because Manny doesn?t get tired.
In contrast, Mosley?s follow-up attacks were ineffective and impotent because he inexplicably got winded almost immediately thereafter.
By the end of the round, he was huffing and puffing like he had been the one plastered some seconds before.
Second, after that disastrous round, Mayweather regrouped well and won every round from the third up to the last in dominating fashion.
So dominant in fact, that it seemed like I was watching a different fight from the third round up and that the second round hiccup was a distant, faded memory.
That says a lot about his character inside the ring and his ability to adapt and adjust. He dug down deep, and reassessed his fight strategy.
He kept his hands up and temporarily abandoned his favored shoulder-roll defense. More importantly, he knew he couldn?t let Mosely get off first and so he upped the offensive tempo and dictated the action.
This was uncharacteristic of him, but by becoming the aggressor, he was able to capitalize on his superior hand speed and started landing first and often.
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT. So now we know two things about the ?Pretty Boy?: he can be hurt by one good shot, but he recovers well and adjusts magnificently mid-fight.
In all probability, that result gave rise to two schools of thought.
The first believes that Pacquiao would walk through Mayweather. Being faster and stronger than Mosley, the indefatigable left-handed Congressional candidate would eviscerate him once he started landing those power left hands.
The second school however, cautions that Pacquiao would have a difficult time against Mayweather if the latter fought the way he did against Mosley from rounds 3-12.
The cunning, cerebral fighter that he is, Mayweather would find a way to neutralize Pacquiao?s aggression and pick him apart systematically.
It would be a good close fight, an epic struggle between an offensive demon and a defensive guru.
To which school of thought do you belong?
SUGAR SHONE MOSTLY. As for Mosely, should he opt to call it a career, there would be no shame in making that his last fight.
That would be a good way to go, infinitely better than the way his buddy Oscar de la Hoya left the sport-on the stool with the fight being waived off at the eighth round against a smaller, shorter fighter.
Mosley won titles in the lightweight, welterweight and super welterweight categories. His best victories came against Oscar (twice) and Antonio Margarito.
While his resume pales in comparison with those of immortals who came before him to wear the ?Sugar? moniker into the ring like Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard, ?Sugar? Shane did enough to land himself in the boxing hall of fame.
Way to go, Shane.
LAST ROUND. It?s on Last Rounder Max Oliver Eata. Cheers!
