By David Mayo, The Grand Rapids Press
LAS VEGAS -- Shane Mosley huffed to the finish, face puffy from Floyd Mayweather’s punches. He left with a $7 million paycheck, a 12-round decision loss, and one moment that will go down in welterweight lore.
“That close -- that close -- to getting him,” Mosley said.
That moment in the second round, when Mosley caught Mayweather pulling straight back as he came forward with a right hand, is the one he might rue the rest of his life after he proved unable to capitalize and got dominated for the remainder of a bout scored 119-109 twice, and 118-110 -- that is, 11-1 and 10-2 in rounds, respectively.
"When you have two guys that are in shape, sometimes you get those big shots, and they come from a big puncher like myself, and he makes adjustments,” Mosley said. “And he didn't make that same mistake, and I didn't get a chance to catch him with that second overhand right.
"He was hurt. He was hurt. He was hurt real bad. I think that's the most he's ever been hurt before, in his entire career. But he's a champion, he's a warrior, and he went out and there and proved that he was the best fighter tonight."
Mosley acknowledged that the fight came down to who changed strategy in mid-fight better.
Mayweather responded to the trouble spot by pressing up his offense immediately in the third round -- even his rarely humbled father admitted he wouldn’t have done it, yet it proved the right decision -- and Mosley never figured out how to get inside a jab that set up copious right hands and enhanced the Grand Rapids native’s legendary defensive skill.
"He made adjustments and I just didn't make the adjustments."
Mosley said he might have gotten too anxious after seeing Mayweather in trouble and fell into a puncher’s mode.
"When I landed that big shot, maybe I got gung-ho and wanted to land another big shot,” he said. “There were a lot of things that were going on in the fight that got me a little tight and I just couldn't pull the trigger."
At 38, Mosley declined to address his future in the sport, saying he just wanted to go home to California and reassess.
He also said he had some tightness in his neck that needs to heal.
"Maybe from some of the jabs he was throwing at me,” he said.
E-mail David Mayo: dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo
Source: mlive.com
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