Last night’s boxing superight between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley drew the ire of both the fans in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and the snarky pundits that populate Twitter.
The fight started competitively enough. I scored the opening round 10-10, and Mosley seemed to hold his own through two. Pacquiao dropped him in the third, the first time Mosley ate canvas since he fought Vernon Forrest in 2002. Mosley survived the rest of the round, and looked recovered at the start of the fourth.
While his faculties returned, his offense stagnated. Mosley showed flashes of competitiveness, landing the isolated hard counter, but Pacquiao overwhelmed him with speed — both foot and hand — forcing Mosley into react mode.
That narrative continued through the tenth. Mosley stepped on Pacquiao’s lead foot, and the momentum of the action caused Pacquiao to slip and fall to the canvas. Kenny Bayless picked up the count started by the ringside official, indicating a knockdown (though two of the judges ringside ignored the decree).
The “knockdown” lit a fire under Pacquiao, who came out strong after the restart and kept up that pace until the final bell in the twelfth.
