By CompuBox
It took Shane Mosley a while to figure out Ricardo Mayorga but once he did the results were spectacular. Referee David Mendoza officially waved off the fight at 2:59 of the 12th and final round after the Nicaraguan wild man suffered his second knockdown in the last 15 seconds – courtesy of a crunching left hook that would have made Robinson and Leonard smile.
In the end, the canyon-esque gap in efficiency proved to be the difference. Mosley was far more precise than Mayorga in all categories as he landed 36 percent of his total punches (144 of 397), 25 percent of his jabs (45 of 183) and 46 percent of his power punches (99 of 214). Conversely, Mayorga connected on just 12 percent of his punches overall (73 of 588), 16 percent of his power punches (68 of 429) and a paltry five percent of his jabs (5 of 159). In fact, it wasn’t until the fifth round that Mayorga landed his first jab while Mosley to that point had landed 14.
Throughout his career, Mayorga has been a ball of kinetic chaos that uses unpredictability to unsettle opponents. That approach seemed to have an effect on Mosley in the first three rounds as limited Mosley to 20 percent efficiency overall (16 of 80) and even shut out "Sugar Shane" in the jab department in round two (0 of 17). Because Mayorga threw more punches and kept Mosley down at his own levels of inefficiency, he appeared to have secured an edge in the early going. Once Mosley solved Mayorga’s style starting in round four, however, the numbers shifted dramatically toward the Californian.
From rounds four through 12, Mosley’s accuracy and effectiveness surged exponentially. Mosley’s connect rates overall surged from 20 percent to 40 percent (128/317) and his power shot number shot up from 25 percent to 50 percent (90 of 179). Mosley topped the 50 percent mark in power punches five out of the last eight rounds with the fourth being his high water mark (9 of 13, 69 percent). In terms of overall punches, the sixth was Mosley’s best as he connected on 58 percent of his blows (25 of 43). His marksmanship concealed the fact that "Sugar Shane" threw just 33 punches per rounds, far below the junior middleweight average of 59.
As for Mayorga, he was by far the busier fighter as he unleashed 49 punches per round, but that level of activity is markedly less than the 69.8 he averaged against Vargas and the 52 he threw in 10 previous fights tracked by CompuBox. Mayorga’s temperament indicates that he will attack harder every time he is attacked and that was the case against Mosley. In the first three rounds Mayorga averaged 44 punches per round but after Mosley stepped up his attack that number rose to 51, with round nine being his most productive in terms of attempts (63) and connects (10). As usual, Mayorga’s power punch to jab ratio (79-21) was lopsided but he did manage to draw the more polished Mosley into his kind of fight as the 37-year-old three-division champ had a 68-32 ratio in favor of power shots. The result was a sloppy fight as the two often smothered one another but the spectacular ending somewhat overshadowed the unaesthetic events that preceded it.
One of Mosley’s potential future opponents could be Andre Berto, who retained his WBC welterweight title for the first time against veteran Steve Forbes with a lopsided unanimous decision underneath Mosley-Mayorga. The 118-109 (twice), 116-111 scorecards reflected Berto’s ultimate dominance but early on Forbes’ savvy enabled the 31-year-old veteran to hang in there with the 25-year-old champion. In the first four rounds Forbes out-landed Berto 48-45 overall and 32-28 in power shots. From round five onward, however, Berto’s youth and superior talent took over as in those rounds Berto out-connected Forbes 102-57 overall and 87-44 in power shots. Forbes also slowed down in rounds seven through 12 as he averaged 43 punches per round as opposed to 58 in the first six rounds.
In all Berto swept Forbes in all categories with the exception of attempted jabs. Overall, Berto was 147 of 619 (24 percent) to Forbes’ 105 of 607 (17 percent- Forbes landed 152 total punches in his twelve round decision loss to Oscar delaHoya in May). Berto landed 32 of 237 in jabs (14 percent) to Forbes’ 29 of 256 (11 percent) and 115 of 382 in power shots (30 percent) to Forbes’ 76 of 351 (22 percent). The power punch-to-jabs ratio was fairly balanced for both as Berto posted a 61-39 while Forbes was 57-43
Because Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto have potential future business, and because HBO showcased both Mosley and Berto on the same telecast, a Berto-Mosley clash would be a logical next step for both. It would give "Sugar Shane" a chance to win another welterweight title and add some bargaining power to a future clash with Margarito or Cotto while a victory over the 37-year-old Mosley would dramatically bolster the young Berto’s standing in boxing’s deepest division.
Mosley said in the post-fight interview with HBO’s Larry Merchant that a Berto fight would be like looking into a mirror at his younger self but to this observer Berto’s fast-twitch aggression conjures memories of another onetime welterweight champion – Meldrick Taylor. In any case, should enough money be produced for both to sign on the bottom line, boxing will be treated to another intriguing crossroads showdown.
