LAS VEGAS - As the rounds wore on and Shane Mosley wore down the way a cliff does after the ocean has battered it with its constancy for too long, Oscar De La Hoya began to feel good about himself.
Now retired from the brutal business of boxing, De La Hoya is the last man to have actually posed a challenge to Floyd Mayweather Jr. inside a boxing ring. Since De La Hoya lost a disputed split decision to him three years ago, Mayweather has fought three of the biggest names in the sport and embarrassed each of them. The trend of dominance that continued Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where he turned Mosley into a frustrated old man first lamenting the loss of his skills but finally conceding it was not merely time that beat him so one-sidedly. It was also Mayweather’s gifts.
“A lot of guys are talented,” Mayweather said after administering a 12-round thrashing to the WBA welterweight champion in which two of the three judges awarded him 11 of the 12 rounds. “Talented and God-gifted are two different things. I’m God-gifted. I know it in my heart.”
Now so do De La Hoya and Mosley, business partners in Golden Boy Promotions and now shared victims of Mayweather’s brilliance.
“We’ve just witnessed the best fighter on the planet,” De La Hoya said at a postfight press conference. “No doubt in my mind. No doubt in Mosley’s mind. Tonight convinced me. He’s the best - possibly of all-time. Mayweather has the skill, talent and work ethic to beat anybody.”
De La Hoya spoke with superior knowledge on that subject, having fought and lost to not only Mayweather and Mosley (twice) but also to Manny Pacquiao.
When asked how Pacquiao would do against Mayweather, De La Hoya was emphatic in his opinion.
“I have to be truthful with you,” De La Hoya said. “Mayweather is on a different level because he’s a student of the game. He’ll beat you mentally outside the ring and finish you off inside the ring. It would be an interesting fight but Mayweather, by far, is the best.”
Mosley provided whatever doubters still existed the last test Mayweather needed when he twice rocked him with solid right hands in the second round, knocking him off balance the first time and into the dark, troubling place a fighter goes when his system is beginning to shut down the second.
At that juncture, his legs went bowlegged and it seemed with 1:47 left in the round, Mosley might finish off the man who earlier in the week claimed to be greater than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson. But while he searched and probed for another opening, not even his admittedly fast hands could unlock further the mystery that is Mayweather when inside a 20-foot expanse of roped off canvas.
“I was that close to getting him,” Mosley said, holding his fingers together like Julia Child adding a pinch of salt. “He’s a hell of a fighter. He made adjustments. I didn’t. That’s the most he’s been hurt before, but he’s a warrior. He proved that tonight.”
Mayweather’s superior hand speed and cleverness changed everything for good at the end of Round 7. Twice Mayweather landed what he calls a pull-back counter, a straight right hand that is launched to counter a left jab by first rocking back away from the incoming fire and then reacting so quickly coming back that the right hand is launched while the left is still in the air.
That left Mosley defenseless because it came so quickly he could not slip it and so hard it reddened the center of his face and snapped his head back as if he’d been in a car wreck with an SUV.
When Mayweather later nailed him flush with a hard left jab just before the bell tolled, Mosley’s face took on a look of sad discouragement. He’d had his moment and not only didn’t capitalize but Mayweather had come back and attacked him in the very next round and now was dominating.
After that, the rest of his shift was a hard day’s night. He survived but did little more than expand Mayweather credentials and give De La Hoya a reason to feel he’d done better three years ago than he thought.
“As the fight was going on I was thinking I was kind of proud of what I accomplished,” De La Hoya said, wearing a rueful smile. “The Mayweather style is a hard style to break.”
Too hard for 41 straight guys. Will it be different if the 42nd is Pacquiao? I doubt it.
rborges@bostonherald.com
Source: news.bostonherald.com
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