LAS VEGAS -- That a natural conclusion sometimes takes much longer to reach than expected does not make it less natural. And so it is when Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley share a prizering tonight, in a welterweight blockbuster, with Mayweather in his 14th year as a pro and Mosley embarking on his 18th.
If fights produce vengeful reactions by their very nature, they are quite unlike revenge itself, in that they are not necessarily dishes best served cold.
Nevertheless, a long-delayed duke does not necessarily prove unsatisfactory, as untold fights throughout history have demonstrated.
There is little doubt among most insiders that while Mayweather-Mosley could prove a few years overripe, it remains the second-best possible matchup in the sport, right behind Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao.
So when the bright lights shine down on the 20-foot ring tonight at MGM Grand Garden Arena -- where Mayweather solidified his career with historic wins over Diego Corrales, Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton; and where Mosley twice resurrected his career with rematch victories over De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas -- neither man will concern himself with the myriad reasons they didn't do this before.
There only will be Mayweather's pursuit to continue fistic perfection.
And Mosley's effort to shatter it.
Experts consider Mosley a live underdog, yet an underdog nonetheless, based on creaky suspicions about his 38-year-old reflexes and never having seen the Grand Rapids native Mayweather fail.
Two seemingly contradictory theories are at play: One, never pick against an undefeated fighter, which Mayweather is; and two, never pick against the promoter's man, with Mosley a partner in Golden Boy Promotions.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that Mayweather is fighting for the fourth consecutive time under the Golden Boy banner, has brought that company massive riches in his victories over De La Hoya, Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez, and holds far greater potential for continuing to do so, at 33, than Mosley does with five more years and five more losses.
Tonight, in 12 rounds or less, Mosley will attempt to defuse all such theories with quickness and speed more conducive to success against Mayweather than any man to test him previously, if those attributes haven’t eroded too much.
Mayweather said Mosley’s skill set never was good enough. He criticized Mosley’s defense and jab as substandard, and said the fight is a whitewash without them.
Mosley, who admits going for a knockout in every fight, also tends to overcommit to power punches. Lunging off-balance could put him at a huge disadvantages against Mayweather’s counterpunching acumen.
"I think he's a fighter that always worries about landing one big shot,” Mayweather said. “He's worried about who is extremely strong and I'm worried about being smart and winning. So we approach the fight in two total different ways, always."
Mosley, to his credit, has the best speed-and-power combination Mayweather ever has seen, and has not locked himself publicly into a game plan, saying that “What makes me Sugar Shane is being able to box, and being able to punch, and being able to slip and slide, and being able to do everything that boxing imparts."
“I never want to get into a situation where I say 'OK, I'm going to pressure this guy, I'm going to fight him,' then I've got to live up to pressuring the guy for the whole 12 rounds, and play into his game and then, when I don't pressure him, they start marking off rounds that I didn't win the fight, because I didn't pressure him,” Mosley said.
The fight didn’t happen in 1999, when Jack Mosley said the fight should be worth eight figures to his son at a time neither man was making seven figures. It didn’t happen in the first half of the last decade after Mosley surpassed Mayweather’s marketability with two wins over De La Hoya, nor in the second half of that decade when Mosley stood in this same ring after beating Vargas in 2006 and said he needed a vacation.
It only regained footing when Mayweather-Pacquiao talks failed.
Now that their near-parallel paths finally have converged in natural conclusion, Mayweather predicted that Mosley’s post-fight response also will represent a natural conclusion.
"You know what he's going to say: 'I didn't know he was that fast, I didn't know he was that strong, he's very, very difficult to hit,’” Mayweather said. “Yeah. That's what they all say."
E-mail David Mayo: dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo
| Mayweather-Mosley: Previewing the megafight |
Source: mlive.com
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