By CompuBox

Before last Saturday night’s fight between WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito and three-division champion Shane Mosley, most pundits visualized a certain date – July 26, 2008. That was the night Margarito steamrolled Miguel Cotto to not only capture the belt but also secure a spot in most observers’ pound-for-pound rankings. Conventional wisdom dictated that "The Tijuana Tornado" would similarly blow through Mosley but we all should have known better than to put the words, "conventional," "wisdom" and "boxing" in the same sentence.

As Mosley battered Margarito with a succession of laser-guided bombs, three other dates immediately sprung to mind – June 17, 2000, September 29, 2001 and October 18, 2008. Here’s why:

* The first date was when Mosley, in his only other appearance at the Staples Center, had arguably the greatest performance of his career when his awesomely swift hands crafted a close but popular split decision over Oscar de la Hoya to win a share of the welterweight title. Somehow, someway Mosley again turned his 37-year-old hands into the comets that strafed the "Golden Boy" and scored a massively important victory.

* The second date was when Team Hopkins, which included Mosley’s new trainer Naazim Richardson, spotted irregularities in Felix Trinidad’s hand wraps, perhaps unsettling the Puerto Rican to the point that he left his "A" game in the dressing room. More than seven years later, he pointed out a flaw in Margarito’s hand wraps that required three full re-wraps before finally passing legal muster. Once the controversy was resolved, Hopkins proceeded to beat down the heavily favored Trinidad before knocking him out in the 12th.

* The final date saw the supposedly aged Hopkins took on the freshly minted pound-for-pound entrant Kelly Pavlik and schooled him like he had never been schooled before, winning every round before winning a ridiculously lopsided decision that stunned the boxing world.

Once the opening bell sounded Mosley drank deeply from the Fountain of Youth and won the numbers game against the ultimate numbers player. Overall, "Sugar Shane" out-landed Margarito 178-108 but more importantly he out-threw him 507-485. After averaging 90 punches per round against Cotto, Margarito was held to 61 against Mosley. The reasons are twofold: The effectiveness of Mosley’s jab, which, in turn, set up extremely accurate power shots.

Mosley promised before the fight he would maintain an active jab and he did just that by averaging 37 jabs per round en route to a 60 of 267 (22 percent) performance. It didn’t matter that Mosley reached double-digit connects just twice (in rounds two and six) because they were followed by jarring rights that hit the target time and again. Mosley topped the 40 percent mark in power connects in each of the final seven rounds, including 15 of 25 (60 percent) in the third and a Tornado-tumbling 18 of 21 (86 percent) in the final round. Always an accurate power puncher, Mosley was 118 of 240 (49 percent) against Margarito.

Mosley’s speed, timing, knowledge of angles and clinching tactics effectively slowed Margarito’s offense to the point that he was eminently beatable. Though tall for a welterweight at 5-11, Margarito has never been a good jabber and against Mosley he was a mere 30 of 182 (16 percent). While Mosley blasted him with power shots again and again, Margarito couldn’t find the range with his as he went 78 of 303 (26 percent).
Mosley out-performed Margarito in total connects in every round save the fifth, when the Mexican enjoyed an 18-16 advantage. The punishment, however, wore on the defending champion, for in the final two rounds Mosley amassed a 42-14 connect advantage in the final two rounds, including a 37-12 bulge in power shots and an 18-0 gulf in the final round.

It was a great night for boxing. Before the largest crowd in Staples Center history one of the sport’s most decorated warriors regained his crown as King of the Welterweights in spectacular upset fashion. The result only emphasized how deep the 147-pound class is and it proved once again that this sport, when matched and marketed correctly, is capable of producing a show unlike any other.