Mosley struggles until last-second KO
CARSON, Calif. – Shane Mosley waited until the last second to look like Shane Mosley. Literally.
His opponent on Saturday, Ricardo Mayorga, was at least an 8-1 underdog and deemed an all-but-shot fighter by some observers. That doesn't say much for Mosley, who struggled mightily against his overmatched foe for 11-plus rounds.
Going into the final round, two judges had Mosley winning (one by one point, another by five) and the third had Mayorga winning (by one). Mosley, however, ended the show in spectacular fashion, knocking out Mayorga with one second remaining in the fight. And the 5,798 fans at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., so frustrated for most of a mediocre fight, went wild in appreciation of their Los Angeles-area son.
Mosley hurt Mayorga with a wild left hook and short right that put down Mayorga with 15 seconds left and knocked him flat on his back, and out with another crushing left hook to the jaw as the final bell approached.
The thrilling finish, however, didn't erase what happened beforehand. Mosley (45-5, 38 KOs) looked sluggish throughout. He looked slow, at least by his standards. He looked tired. He threw remarkably few punches.
He looked all of his 37 years.
Of course, Mayorga (29-7-1, 23 KOs) deserves some credit. He proved, in this instance, that he's more than a big talker; he was aggressive for much of the fight.
At times, the brash Nicaraguan raised his arms in the air as if to say, "Hey, I'm in this fight." And he was.
Mayorga's awkward, brawling style also contributed to Mosley's problems. They butted heads several times, exchanged numerous rabbit punches and seemed to clinch more often than they exchanged meaningful punches.
As a result, the bored crowd became silent at several points in the fight and booed the fighters at several more.
Mosley claimed at the postfight news conference that he was hampered by two blood blisters on his right foot, which he said made it difficult to push off when he punched. But the Mosley of old wouldn't have allowed this to happen. He would've found a way to solve Mayorga earlier in the fight. He would've thrown his blazing-quick combinations more often; he would've dominated with his superior skills and much-admired fire.
However, this wasn't the Mosley of old. And we might never see that fighter again.
Remember, Mosley began fighting when he was 8 years old. That's almost three decades of hard training and taking hard punches. That kind of punishment takes its toll, particularly on an older man.
Mosley will fight on. He loves what he does and still has considerable earning power because of his name. And he earned at least one more big-money fight with the knockout.
The fans reacted to the knockout with deafening cheers, a tribute Mosley richly deserved for closing the show. Indeed, it will be remembered as one of the top moments in Mosley's great career, the night he turned what would've been an unsatisfying, perhaps even troubling victory into a dramatic triumph.
"I wanted to give the fans what they deserve, and that's a knockout," he said.
In the past, though, Mosley would've given them what they deserve for the entire fight. He just couldn't do that on Saturday.
