By Jake Donovan (photo by Chris Cozzone/FightWireImages.com)
After years of enduring criticism for not challenging himself against the best of his weight class, Floyd Mayweather Jr. emphatically silenced his critics with a virtuoso performance against Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday evening.
Final scores were 119-109 (twice) and 118-108, all for Mayweather, now 41-0 (25KO).
The first hint of drama came before the fight began, when Mayweather was deliberate in his ring walk, refusing to leave his dressing room until his theme music was properly in place.
It would be one of only two occasions on the night where things didn’t completely go his way.
A sign of things to come came midway through the first round, when Mosley touched his glove to the canvas after missing with a right hand and slipping off balance. It was the lone stand out moment in a relatively tame opening three minutes.
Both fighters seemed to shake the nerves in the second, opening up a little more. Advantage big time for Mosley, who twice had Mayweather shook on the strength of right hands. The first came a little over a minute into the round, when a straight shot forced Mayweather to desperately cling onto Mosley’s arm.
The shot sent the crowd into a frenzy, with chants of “Mosley!” belted out amongst the announced crowd of 15,117 on hand. Mosley gave them more reason to cheer after landing a looping overhand right that once again had Mayweather on wobbly legs. To his credit, the undefeated box office king regained his composure as the round wore on, scoring with two left hooks and a right hand.
It appeared to have been an opportunity lost for Mosley, who seemed tight in the third round as Mayweather rediscovered his swagger. Jabs and chopping right hands ruled the day for Mayweather, who fought the round without fear of any incoming.
The sequence didn’t sit well with Mosley’s head trainer, Brother Naazim Richardson, who demanded his fighter to work behind the jab rather than wait for opportunities that weren’t immediately being made available.
Despite the sound advice from arguably the best trainer in the sport, Mosley had his own ideas. None of them worked, resulting in his lowest punch output to that point in the fight, allowing Mayweather to become the aggressor.
Referee Kenny Bayless was forced to earn his pay in a fifth round that saw a lot of contact, but very little punching. The fighters were frequently separated after several clinches, with both fighters complaining to the third man about tactics employed by the other.
What few punches were landed in the round were done so by Mayweather, who was effective with his counter right hand, but more so with controlling the pace of the fight. Mosley’s punch output was dismal, constantly going into his windup but rarely releasing.
A classic one-two combo by Mayweather midway through the sixth energized a crowd starving for any reason to cheer as the bout threatened to develop into a chess match. Mosley was certainly anything other than a thinking man’s fighter, unable to get going offensively as he continued to fall deeper and deeper into a hole on the scorecards.
Referee intervention was required on several occasions in an active eighth round. Mosley was issued a hard warning for shoving Mayweather into the ropes and attempting to open fire. Mayweather later received a lecture for throwing elbows, but still landed plenty on the clean side, including several right hands up the middle while never sticking around long enough for Mosley to effectively respond.
The latter part prompted a speech from his head trainer, who didn’t particularly care for the direction of the fight.
“You gotta force the exchange, Shane… because we gotta get him outta here.”
Such were the marching orders issued by Richardson, as Mosley sat on a stool struggling to catch his breath heading into the final four rounds of the bout. The effort was made, but the punches were well short.
Conversely, Mayweather fought with the confidence of a man who knew the fight was in the bag, drawing oohs and ahhs from the crowd after a flush right hand late in the round stopped Mosley in his tracks.
The crowd went from awe-inspired to rising out of their seats at the end of the tenth, as Mayweather toyed with Mosley. Jabs and right hands repeated snapped back Mosley’s head, causing enough concern for Richardson to threaten to pull the plug on the fight if things didn’t turn around in a hurry.
Mosley didn’t show any signs of improvement in the 11th and was twice genuinely stunned from Mayweather right hands. Rather than pull his fighter from the 12th, Richardson instead asked him to go to the well and do “what you’ve done before”, an indirect reference to his last-second knockout of Ricardo Mayorga 20 months ago.
No such drama was going to happen on this particular evening. To the contrary, as the 12th and final round proved to be a clumsy affair, to where the third man begged both fighters to quit wrestling. Boos came raining down for the first time in the fight as both fighters were sloppy down the stretch, but were given a respectful round of applause at the final bell.
“My uncle went over the plan, box early and then start pressing later in the fight,” Mayweather said of his ability to fight aggressively against an opponent expected to at least rough him up. “I thought we should’ve pressed him earlier, but we still did what we had to do.”
Mosley, quite simply, did not.
“He started being able to avoid the punches,” Mosley (now 46-6, 39KO) explained of his opponent’s ability to take over the fight so quickly. “He didn’t surprise me. He just adjusted, I couldn’t adjust. That was the difference.”
A big difference in this fight being Mayweather versus Mosley and not Manny Pacquiao had everything to do with the former’s willingness to concede to all demands, and the latter’s refusal to bow down.
The breakdown in negotiations between Mayweather and Pacquiao resulted in this particular fight serving as the prototype for the way big fights may be conducted in the future. Both fighters underwent a series of random blood and urine tests to ensure that performance enhancing drugs were not being used by either fighter.
“All I want is for everyone to fight on an even playing field,” Mayweather insisted after the fight when asked about the possibility of the Pacquiao fight never materializing over the stipulation. “That’s all I ask. I just wanted to be treated fair.”
Despite far more money being at stake than the guaranteed $22.5 million Mayweather will clear tonight, the stance on random drug testing remains the same.
“If everyone in the sport of boxing is clean, then take the tests. If Manny Pacquiao takes the blood and urine tests, we can make the fight happen for all of the fans.”
And if not?
“Then we ain’t got no fight.”
For Mosley, the lingering question is whether or not a fight of any kind is in his future.
To his credit, he recognizes what went wrong on Saturday night. But it remains to be seen what’s left in his 38-year old body, after serving as a professional prizefighter for 18 years.
“I think after when I caught him with the big right hand, I started loading up too much. I was too tight and couldn’t throw my big shots.”
“I have to go back home, check out the tape and see what happens. I just have to take it slow and see what goes on and I’ll just take it from there.”
Wherever Mayweather takes it from here, he can go home having emphatically silenced his critics, while Mosley becomes the 40th different fighter unable to silence Floyd Mayweather.
TELEVISED UNDERCARD
Undefeated teenaged prospect Saul Alvarez overcame a rocky start in the opening round to stop Jose Miguel Cotto at 2:51 of the ninth-round of their welterweight chief support.
Former super bantamweight titlist Daniel Ponce de Leon boxed his way to victory over featherweight spoiler Cornelius Lock. Scores were 96-94 (twice) and 97-93.
Said Ouali recovered from a knockdown in the opening seconds to twice drop and eventually stop Hector David Saldivia at 1:47 of the first round of their televised opener.
A complete recap can be found by clicking here .
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com