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Philippines, 23 Nov 2024 |
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Sugar Shane Mosley Shines Again! By Granville Ampong PhilBoxing.com Mon, 26 Jan 2009  LOS ANGELES, California ? Just after the bell rang from ten strikes to honor Jose "Chengui" Torres, the former Light-Heavyweight Champion and a Boxing Hall of Famer who died last week, that momentary stillness itself vanished in thin air as the raucous crowd of 20,820 brought boxing?s bid as the highest in attendance for any event, whether it be basketball or indoor shows, in the history of Staples Center. But the crowd, mostly of Hispanic descent, witnessed the unprecedented defeat by knockout of the son of the Aztecs in the hands of a more skillful, more powerful and a much faster boxing veteran. Mosley, 38, brutally knocked out WBA Welterweight Champion Antonio Margarito, 31, in the ninth at 43 seconds. Seemingly poised before Mosley?s surgical attacks, Margarito (37-5, 27 KO?s) showed his heart out of La Raza by keeping his unrelenting advances open to toe-to-toe encounters. He escaped a knockout in the eight after taking from Mosley?s equally powerful left and right crosses to his body and upstairs which staggered him twice by the rope. The fight was one of ?Armageddon?, yielding flurry of non-fancy moves in which Mosley never steamed lateral positioning away from Margarito?s punishing defenses and penchants for power-play in the first three rounds. It was non-stop until it rallied to Margarito?s destruction right in front of wildly cheering fans, of which California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hollywood Actor Sylvester Stallone were premiere spectators. Margarito tried stalking Mosley, who was the 6-1 underdog. But, Mosley?s rhythm outpaced and blocked most of the tornado punches of Margarito. Margarito landed 108 punches out of 485 thrown while Mosley overwhelmingly landed 178 punches out of 507. Despite obvious devastation of Margarito in round 7, two judges, namely, Max Deluca and Nelson Vasquez scored it 10 in favor of Margarito. Nevertheless, Mosley, whom most of the boxing fans counted him out, kept digging Margarito?s body and took his clock back to score heavy shots to the head that stunned the Tijuana fighter many times in round 8 before being pummeled to the canvas twice. Meanwhile, many were shocked about the outcome of the fight. In fact, two corporate executives, who chatted with this writer, flew from New York intending to witness the supposed ceremonial retirement of Mosley from the ring at the Staples Center tonight. And they were amazed. ?It?s like a repeat of Pacquiao-De la Hoya fight,? they said. But, ?almost all great fighters lost, and then they come back and win again,? according to Top Rank Godfather Bob Arum. Fact is, ?for every fight, the result can be different,? he added. ?It may be that De la Hoya, for example, would win over Pacquiao if they fight again. You?ll never know, really.? Conversely, Mosley lost once via unanimous decision to Miguel Cotto, whom Margarito handed down the latter?s first professional loss via TKO in the 11th in 2007. When asked by this writer if he wants to fight Cotto, he said he is looking forward for a rematch. But, he also expressed interest for a fight with Manny Pacquiao or Mayweather before the close of the year. Mosley was credited for vouching sometime early last year that Manny Pacquio?s power shots equal to the force of a welterweight, which he is now wanting to test for a possible SUPER-MEGA FIGHT. Despite Mosley?s unprecedented performance tonight, he remained modest about it. ?He is an excellent student,? said Naseem Richardson, trainer of Mosley who also trained Bob Hopkins for his fight against Kelly Pavlik. Richardson acknowledged that Mosley worked so hard with his team during his training in Big Bear. On the other hand, Mosley thanked Margarito for giving him a good fight tonight. Margarito was whisked immediately after the initial interview with HBO to a nearby hospital for a precautionary check-up. ?I hope he will continue to fight and win again,? said Mosley. ?He is a great guy and I am happy the he took the fight.? But, ?I did not expect that I could hurt him that bad.? said Mosley. ?I did not expect a knock out win either.? ?I think my speed was just too much for him.? he added. Mosley confessed that Margarito bearing a monstrous tenacity in the fight ?stunned him a couple of times?, but he said he blocked most of the power shots. Mosley won his fifth professional championship belt. He also won the Boxing Hall of Fame Fighter of the Year Award in 2000. Note: Granville Ampong is an L.A.-based journalist who writes regularly for Philboxing.com, Manila-US Times, Negros Chronicle and Maharlikan Times. He is also active contributor of the Nevada Examiner. You may visit and register at his website: www.maharlikantimes.com. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Granville Ampong.  |
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