By Cliff Rold

In the end, it was all about Money and Hot Pants. 

Money of course would be one Floyd Mayweather Jr.  Hot Pants?  That’s a nickname some fans have for Bantamweight Fernando Montiel, a nod to his shorter and tighter than the modern norm boxing trunks.  Both posted big wins, Mayweather over Shane Mosley and Montiel over Hozumi Hasegawa, in the week just behind us, keeping the momentum going into another exciting week of boxing.

This scribe hopes the week ahead can be an exciting turnaround having picked wrong in five out of the last six fights featured in pre-fight report cards here at BoxingScene.  For the second week in a row, it was for 0-2 but, just as was the case a week ago, watching great performances is a nice salve for a bad pick.

Mayweather and Montiel couldn’t have produced much better results.  Let’s go the report cards. 
 
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Mosley A; Mayweather A+/Mosley B; Mayweather A+
Pre-Fight: Power – Mosley A; Mayweather B/Mosley A; Mayweather B
Pre-Fight: Defense – Mosley B; Mayweather A+/Mosley C; Mayweather A
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Mosley A; Mayweather A/Mosley C+; Mayweather A

Pre-Fight: Speed – Hasegawa A; Montiel B+/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Hasegawa B+; Montiel A-/Post: Hasegawa B+; Montiel A
Pre-Fight: Defense – Hasegawa B+; Montiel B/Post: Hasegawa C; Montiel B+
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Hasegawa A; Montiel A-/Post: Hasegawa B; Montiel A

Tackling the smaller men first, Friday in Japan produced a fight which lived up to the excitement of seeing two reigning Bantamweight beltholders square off for the first time since the 1970s.  It wasn’t a scorcher throughout but it was a chess match contested on the highest levels and the end was explosive.   

It was the sort of ending which made the fight hard to grade.  Sometimes, guys just get caught.  This was one of those cases.  Hasegawa (28-3, 12 KO) was tagged with a left that whipped his head around late in round four and before he could get set, a harsher left apparently quite literally broke Hasegawa’s jaw.  It was a round he’d been winning to then and a fight where he appeared narrowly to be leading. 

It was a shot Montiel had been lying in wait for.  He played the role of counter puncher throughout, waiting for Hasegawa to give him an opening and the then-WBC titlist did just that.  Montiel showed tremendous killer instinct in rushing for the finish, blasting a Hasegawa tangled on the ropes with a finishing shot more brutal looking than the hook at mid-ring. 

There was no official comment from Hasegawa’s handlers on whether he’d like to pursue a rematch but, if he intends to stay at Bantamweight, the Japanese veteran who had been creeping into the pound-for-pound debate must do whatever he can to secure it.

For Montiel (41-2-2), it was a career-best win as he goes forward in now his third titled weight class.  For the Mexican star, one can hope for more unification in what is currently a deep pool of titlists.  To those who know the talents, Montiel versus WBA titlist Anselmo Moreno or IBF titlist Yonnhy Perez would be easy fights to get excited about. 

Given the revenue he generates, anything involving the now recrowned Welterweight king Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO) is something to get excited about these days.  Saturday, for the first few rounds anyways, was for certain.  The remaining rounds were for those who can appreciate how hard it is to make something hard look easy.

Because that’s what Mayweather did on Saturday.  He made beating Shane Mosley (46-6, 39 KO) look easy.  While the 38-year old Mosley wasn’t the peak version of himself, the 33-year old Mayweather isn’t as young as he used to be either and it’s hard to imagine the rest of the Welterweights doing to Mosley what Mayweather did.

Mayweather showed again that those who doubt his fighter’s temperament are wrong.  He was shaken in round two by Mosley, a rare defensive lapse that provided the night’s only real drama.

As had been the case on the rare other occasions where Mayweather had been in trouble, hurting him only caused pain for the man who did it.  Zab Judah rocked Mayweather early; DeMarcus Corley stunned him in consecutive rounds.  Mosley joins those men as having received some of the most complete whooping Mayweather has dished out not featuring Diego Corrales.

The two defining moments of the fight for this viewer were moments of surprise punches.  At one point, Mosley attempted to touch gloves sportsman style after the two had been broken by the referee.  Mayweather punched him.  Late in the fight, Mosley was warned for a foul and appeared to be trying to shake again before dropping his hands and saying something to Floyd.

Floyd belted him in the mouth.

Mosley has had a career long penchant for such quick handshakes.  There were multiple moments of the sort in his fights with Oscar De La Hoya.  Mayweather’s reactions were the sort of salty one would expect to see on black and white film.  His counter punching was precise, his game plan aggressive, and his victory complete.

Going forward, one wonders if Mosley will continue in the sport.  He looked exhausted by the end of the third round but it’s unfair to chalk that all to age.  Mayweather was tagging him and, even when Mosley showed some bounce in his step left, even when he let his hands go, the two or more punches Mayweather would land to halt his offense deserve the bulk of the credit for Mosley’s in-ring impotency.

Mayweather?  The fight the world really wanted is still what it really wants.  Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao.  Time will tell if that showdown can get done.  When the pay-per-view numbers come in for Mayweather-Mosley, Mayweather is likely to have added strength in his argument that he is the more potent revenue driver in the fight.  At that point, there could be a lot more than Olympic style drug testing, the reported hold up to Mayweather-Pacquiao last winter, to jam negotiations.

Looking Ahead

Overall, it was an excellent weekend for fights fans in the U.S. and abroad but what about the days ahead?  Two fights, both on Saturday stand out as BoxingScene’s Picks of the Week.

Pick It: #1 at Middleweight Paul Williams-#4 at Jr. Middleweight Kermit Cintron (Saturday, HBO, 9:45 PM EST/6:45 PM PST)

Hot off his win over the man-who-would-be-Middleweight king, Sergio Martinez, Williams (38-1, 27 KO) returns with a fight made more intriguing than it would have been without Martinez.  Cintron (32-2-1, 28 KO) wouldn’t be assumed as having the technical acumen or activity level to keep up with the taller and faster Williams, but Cintron does have an eraser.  Martinez had Williams down and hurt, exposing the lack of defense which is Williams’ Achilles heel.  If Cintron can find a hole to fire through amidst the swarms of punches sure to be aimed at his head, anything can happen.  It probably won’t but, paired with the Mayweather-Mosley replay for those who haven’t seen it, there will be enough of a puncher’s chance to dictate any fight fan’s viewing.

Pick YouTube: #2 Nobuo Nashiro-#4 Hugo Cazares (Saturday, Japan)

For those who didn’t see their first fight in 2009, find it.  The violent draw all that will be needed to anticipate this rematch for the WBA 115 lb. belt.  Cazares (30-6-2, 22 KO), the former World Jr. Flyweight champion has looked stronger at Jr. Bantamweight and is making for action fights every time out.  Nashiro (13-1-1, 8 KO) had a prodigious start to his career and might be the most seasoned 15 fight veteran in the sport.  This one won’t be on live in the U.S. as far as can be found but it should pop up on YouTube at some point.  We’ll know by then if it was as must see as the first time out.

Report Card Picks 2010: 12-7

For BoxingScene’s latest full divisional ratings, log on to: https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/view.php?pg=boxing-ratings

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com