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When I first joined B/R as contributor last May, my first article was about the May 1 fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley.
In my first article entitled "Questions on Mosley's Second Round Assault on Mayweather, Jr," I dealt with the reasons why Shane Mosley was not able to sustain his attack on Mayweather when it was so clear that the undefeated boxer lost his senses after being hit hard by Mosley in the second round:
"Boxing analysts are saying Mosley could have finished Mayweather in the second round of their fight. It was evident that Mayweather was hurt real bad in the round that 'just a little more effort' could have ended the bout in favor of Mosley via KO.
But the real question is why did Mosley 'held on'? It was quite clear from any angle that Mosley had his punching power and senses working for him in that round and even an amateur boxer would tell you it was a won fight in favor of Mosley".
I thought it was appropriate to revisit the Mosley-Mayweather fight after some B/R writers and commenter shifted their discussion on the second round assault that almost floored the undefeated boxer.
Niel de la Cruz, a very active commenter in our boxing community, said in one of his comments:
"I felt that it was fixed. If you'll watch the fight again, Mosley looked worried after hitting Floyd that almost knocked the latter down (it's like he realized that he was not following orders). After that shot, Mosley changed- from a fast strong fisted guy to slow, out-of-focused boxer. Mosley's foot work & defense changed after just two rounds.
"It's stupid to assume that Floyd's change of strategy made all the difference from 3rd to last round since one must focus also on Mosley's negative performance transition that gave Floyd a walk in the cloud 3rd to 12 round".
In the first round, Mayweather failed to land a single power punch or a combination of punches that could have weakened Mosley and justified his failure to finish Mayweather in that round.
In the second, Mayweather was clearly out of his senses.
Mosley, however, was fresh and very dangerous in the first and second rounds.
Niel continues his theory:
"My conspiracy theory: It's a fact that Floyd and Mosley were acquaintances, as they played basketball together. Floyd was accused of ducking Mosley and cherry picking his fights. On the other hand, Mosley was desperate for a fight (almost 2 years that he was not getting any payday). And Floyd was desperate to prove something.
"The one year vacation of Floyd (which he had time playing basketball with Mosley) premeditated Floyd's comeback fights (Marquez taking up to welterweight as warm up fight & a fixed fight with Mosley)."
Other commenters have sided with Niel's explanation while some members of the community disagreed.
Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, when asked about Mosley's devastating second-round attack, didn't understand the boxer's change in attack.
“I saw that, I did,” Pacquiao said. “If I can hit Mayweather like that, I will finish him off. I would continue the attack in a way that Mosley did not. I will attack until Mayweather is gone.”
Niel offers a test for his theory:
"We know what Mosley did to Margarito. He never got tired. One possible gauge will be Mosley's fight with Mora. I'm sure you'll see a non-stop action packed fight that Mosley is known for. Very different to his fight with Floyd."
So, was the fight fixed?
Niel's theory shows it may have been.
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