Sugar Shane Tames the Tijuana Breeze
This was a pretty good weekend as far as weekends between the Conference Championships and Super Bowl go. (Before I get to my Super Bowl prediction column this week, you should know now that I have no good feeling either way as far as my pick goes both for the game and the over/under. I’m sure that I’ll forget about that fact when I vehemently argue for my pick and give all sorts of support backing up said pick.) Highlighting the weekend was the “Sugar” Shane Mosley 9th round TKO victory over Antonio “Tijuana Tornado” Margarito. Highlighting my weekend was going to the Lakers' mauling of the Spurs, but I figured you’d probably rather hear a more objective voice talk about a great boxing upset.
Watching this fight unfold was shocking all by itself, and that was before the dramatic finish. I, like everybody else in the world, thought Margarito would be too much for Sugar Shane. Margarito overwhelmed Cotto back in July, the same Cotto that eked out a win over Mosley earlier in the year. Mosley is a slightly faster fighter than Cotto and Cotto is slightly more powerful than Mosley. Aside from that, they are very similar in terms of talent. That’s why it was seemingly a foregone conclusion that Margarito would just wear down Mosley with constant pressure the way he did Cotto.
Mosley had plenty of distractions to deal with on top of going toe to toe with a relentless fighter with the best chin in the game in Margarito. Mosley had to disrupt his fighting preparations by driving down from Big Bear to L.A. to finalize his divorce. His wife may have been crazier than Doug Christie's wife, so this is probably a relief for him. However, Mosley had also just fired his father as his trainer for the second time in his career. And finally, Mosley is knee deep in steroid allegations stemming from 2003. Sugar Shane was adamant that he never knowingly took steroids, but his leaked grand jury testimony showed that Shane had EPO injected in addition to using the cream and the clear. On top of all of that, Mosley’s pre-fight interview almost sounded like a ready-made retirement speech. When asked how he felt, he said he felt like a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 but may have to re-evaluate after the fight. Granted he may have been drained by the length of time it took Larry Merchant to get the question out, but still, this didn’t sound like the answer of a boxer in peak condition. After all, it did take Shane two tries to make weight. Add all of that to the mounting challenge in the ring and all of a sudden the 4 to 1 odds against Mosley made sense and it looked like he’d just be outclassed in the ring. But clearly, that didn’t happen.
The drama started before the fighters even entered the ring. While Margarito was having his hands taped, Mosley’s trainer, Nasim Richardson, noticed that Margarito had an illegal tape job. He was being wrapped with a type of material that hardens into plaster when it gets wet. In boxing, they call it having “loaded gloves.” You can imagine what the result of having plaster inside of a boxer’s gloves would be. Margarito had to have his hands taped and re-taped three times. Whether or not Margarito’s performance against Mosley was affected by this incident is debatable, but now, this casts a cloud over his victory against the previously indestructible Miguel Cotto.
Coming into the ring, Margarito was a huge fan favorite. Even though Mosely is from Pomona, CA, Margarito had roughly 95% of the fan support at the Staples Center. The record 20,000+ crowd booed Mosley and roared ecstatically when the Tijuana Tornado entered the ring. It seemed as though Mosley’s only fans where the famous people in the first five rows. The one negative thing I could say about Margarito before the opening bell was that he did look a little skinnier than normal. Maybe that was just me.
When the fight started, I wasn’t surprised. Mosley was the more active fighter, landing some flush shots, but I can’t remember the last time I saw Margarito get off to a fast start in a big fight. He started slow against Cotto and was caught several times, but that only seemed to add to the mystique that was the Tijuana Tornado. He’d get hit and then just keep coming, getting stronger in the process. So seeing Margarito get popped in the opening round wasn’t really jarring.
The next few rounds were mirror images of Round 1. Margarito had to be down on all of the scorecards and by Round 6 it was feeling like Margarito was making the same mistake that he did against Paul Williams. There, he dumped the first several rounds and didn’t start his flurries until it was too late and he lost in a decision. Margarito wouldn’t be so lucky this time around though.
Round 7 was the only round that could have possibly gone to Margarito up until that point. He landed some shots but still was nowhere near his 100-punch rounds of the past. Lampley and Steward had it right in that the only reason people might have given Margarito Round 7 was that it was the only round in which he did anything and it looked good by comparison. Even so, a decent Margarito round still made it seem as though the Tijuana Tornado was going to turn things around. He was refusing water in his corner throughout the fight, smiled at every clean shot that Mosley landed, and it seemed like if Margarito could flip the switch, that he’d turn this into a typical Margarito fight for the last five rounds.
Then the 8th Round happened. Margarito was slowing again and it was like watching the De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight all over again. Margarito looked like a past his prime, shot fighter. Except Margarito is in his prime and had looked like a world-beater coming into this bout. Mosley landed huge overhand rights as he had the whole fight, only now, Jim Lampley was saying, “that one staggered Margarito!” I’ve never heard those words uttered before. I thought Lampley had it wrong. But then with seconds remaining, Margarito’s knees were buckled by a left hook and he fell into the ropes. The ref didn’t rule it a knockdown as he should have, but no matter because Mosley caught him again and Margarito went down. Margarito survived the standing eight count, only because the round was over. Otherwise I think, at least I hope, that the ref wouldn’t have let him continue. Margarito barely made it to his corner on his own and his second wanted to stop the fight. I was in shock. Although I must say, Mosley landed more clean blows than in an average round in a Rocky movie. You know, those scenes where neither fighter plays any defense and just keep taking blows to the head without going down. That was the end of the 8th Round in Staples Center, only Margarito finally took too many a la Ivan Drago or Clubber Lang. The 9th Round was purely academic and in my opinion the ref let it go on too long. Margarito finally went down just as the ref as about to step in and his corner was throwing the white towel. Seeing Margarito down and out will probably the most shocking image of the year and it happened three weeks in. On a side note, the happiest person might be Floyd Mayweather Jr. He was always criticized for ducking Margarito, using money as his excuse. Now, he’s vindicated because now he can convincingly argue that his speed would have yielded the same result against Margarito. Money May always finds a way to come out on top.
I’ll end by talking about the victor. I always thought of Sugar Shane Mosley as slightly overrated. His marquee victories are two decisions over Oscar De La Hoya, one involving a highly disputed group of judges scorecards and now a steroids allegation. I also don't weigh those wins as much as others because I think De La Hoya is more famous because of his Golden Boy promoting skills than his tremendous wins in the ring. After De La Hoya, Mosley’s career consists of wins over past their prime guys like Vargas and Mayorga. He was dismantled by Vernon Forrest, twice, and again twice by Winky Wright. Until the fight against Margarito I thought of Mosley as a fighter who would be riding De La Hoya’s coattails into the Hall of Fame. Not anymore. Mosley did what no other fighter could do in taking Margarito apart and ultimately knocking him out and Margarito hasn’t exactly fought a bunch of slouches. Sugar Shane Mosley solidified his spot in the Hall of Fame on Saturday in amazing fashion. It’s tough for me to admit, especially in talking about big fights, but I had this one completely wrong, but I’m kind of happy about it.
Watching this fight unfold was shocking all by itself, and that was before the dramatic finish. I, like everybody else in the world, thought Margarito would be too much for Sugar Shane. Margarito overwhelmed Cotto back in July, the same Cotto that eked out a win over Mosley earlier in the year. Mosley is a slightly faster fighter than Cotto and Cotto is slightly more powerful than Mosley. Aside from that, they are very similar in terms of talent. That’s why it was seemingly a foregone conclusion that Margarito would just wear down Mosley with constant pressure the way he did Cotto.
Mosley had plenty of distractions to deal with on top of going toe to toe with a relentless fighter with the best chin in the game in Margarito. Mosley had to disrupt his fighting preparations by driving down from Big Bear to L.A. to finalize his divorce. His wife may have been crazier than Doug Christie's wife, so this is probably a relief for him. However, Mosley had also just fired his father as his trainer for the second time in his career. And finally, Mosley is knee deep in steroid allegations stemming from 2003. Sugar Shane was adamant that he never knowingly took steroids, but his leaked grand jury testimony showed that Shane had EPO injected in addition to using the cream and the clear. On top of all of that, Mosley’s pre-fight interview almost sounded like a ready-made retirement speech. When asked how he felt, he said he felt like a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 but may have to re-evaluate after the fight. Granted he may have been drained by the length of time it took Larry Merchant to get the question out, but still, this didn’t sound like the answer of a boxer in peak condition. After all, it did take Shane two tries to make weight. Add all of that to the mounting challenge in the ring and all of a sudden the 4 to 1 odds against Mosley made sense and it looked like he’d just be outclassed in the ring. But clearly, that didn’t happen.
The drama started before the fighters even entered the ring. While Margarito was having his hands taped, Mosley’s trainer, Nasim Richardson, noticed that Margarito had an illegal tape job. He was being wrapped with a type of material that hardens into plaster when it gets wet. In boxing, they call it having “loaded gloves.” You can imagine what the result of having plaster inside of a boxer’s gloves would be. Margarito had to have his hands taped and re-taped three times. Whether or not Margarito’s performance against Mosley was affected by this incident is debatable, but now, this casts a cloud over his victory against the previously indestructible Miguel Cotto.
Coming into the ring, Margarito was a huge fan favorite. Even though Mosely is from Pomona, CA, Margarito had roughly 95% of the fan support at the Staples Center. The record 20,000+ crowd booed Mosley and roared ecstatically when the Tijuana Tornado entered the ring. It seemed as though Mosley’s only fans where the famous people in the first five rows. The one negative thing I could say about Margarito before the opening bell was that he did look a little skinnier than normal. Maybe that was just me.
When the fight started, I wasn’t surprised. Mosley was the more active fighter, landing some flush shots, but I can’t remember the last time I saw Margarito get off to a fast start in a big fight. He started slow against Cotto and was caught several times, but that only seemed to add to the mystique that was the Tijuana Tornado. He’d get hit and then just keep coming, getting stronger in the process. So seeing Margarito get popped in the opening round wasn’t really jarring.
The next few rounds were mirror images of Round 1. Margarito had to be down on all of the scorecards and by Round 6 it was feeling like Margarito was making the same mistake that he did against Paul Williams. There, he dumped the first several rounds and didn’t start his flurries until it was too late and he lost in a decision. Margarito wouldn’t be so lucky this time around though.
Round 7 was the only round that could have possibly gone to Margarito up until that point. He landed some shots but still was nowhere near his 100-punch rounds of the past. Lampley and Steward had it right in that the only reason people might have given Margarito Round 7 was that it was the only round in which he did anything and it looked good by comparison. Even so, a decent Margarito round still made it seem as though the Tijuana Tornado was going to turn things around. He was refusing water in his corner throughout the fight, smiled at every clean shot that Mosley landed, and it seemed like if Margarito could flip the switch, that he’d turn this into a typical Margarito fight for the last five rounds.
Then the 8th Round happened. Margarito was slowing again and it was like watching the De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight all over again. Margarito looked like a past his prime, shot fighter. Except Margarito is in his prime and had looked like a world-beater coming into this bout. Mosley landed huge overhand rights as he had the whole fight, only now, Jim Lampley was saying, “that one staggered Margarito!” I’ve never heard those words uttered before. I thought Lampley had it wrong. But then with seconds remaining, Margarito’s knees were buckled by a left hook and he fell into the ropes. The ref didn’t rule it a knockdown as he should have, but no matter because Mosley caught him again and Margarito went down. Margarito survived the standing eight count, only because the round was over. Otherwise I think, at least I hope, that the ref wouldn’t have let him continue. Margarito barely made it to his corner on his own and his second wanted to stop the fight. I was in shock. Although I must say, Mosley landed more clean blows than in an average round in a Rocky movie. You know, those scenes where neither fighter plays any defense and just keep taking blows to the head without going down. That was the end of the 8th Round in Staples Center, only Margarito finally took too many a la Ivan Drago or Clubber Lang. The 9th Round was purely academic and in my opinion the ref let it go on too long. Margarito finally went down just as the ref as about to step in and his corner was throwing the white towel. Seeing Margarito down and out will probably the most shocking image of the year and it happened three weeks in. On a side note, the happiest person might be Floyd Mayweather Jr. He was always criticized for ducking Margarito, using money as his excuse. Now, he’s vindicated because now he can convincingly argue that his speed would have yielded the same result against Margarito. Money May always finds a way to come out on top.
I’ll end by talking about the victor. I always thought of Sugar Shane Mosley as slightly overrated. His marquee victories are two decisions over Oscar De La Hoya, one involving a highly disputed group of judges scorecards and now a steroids allegation. I also don't weigh those wins as much as others because I think De La Hoya is more famous because of his Golden Boy promoting skills than his tremendous wins in the ring. After De La Hoya, Mosley’s career consists of wins over past their prime guys like Vargas and Mayorga. He was dismantled by Vernon Forrest, twice, and again twice by Winky Wright. Until the fight against Margarito I thought of Mosley as a fighter who would be riding De La Hoya’s coattails into the Hall of Fame. Not anymore. Mosley did what no other fighter could do in taking Margarito apart and ultimately knocking him out and Margarito hasn’t exactly fought a bunch of slouches. Sugar Shane Mosley solidified his spot in the Hall of Fame on Saturday in amazing fashion. It’s tough for me to admit, especially in talking about big fights, but I had this one completely wrong, but I’m kind of happy about it.
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