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This past Saturday evening in Los Angeles, Sugar Shane Mosley scored a stunning upset to claim the WBA welterweight title while putting on one of the most memorable shows in boxing history. He didn’t just win, he annihilated, and knocked silly, the seemingly indestructible champ, Antonio Margarito.

The victory surprised many, though I was not one of them. But even though Mosley had knocked out other big punchers like Fernando Vargas and Ricardo Mayorga, the massacre that he thrust on the granite chinned Margarito was a revelation.

At 37-years-old, and after his narrow defeat to Miguel Cotto in November of 2007, the shine had dimmed on what is, without argument, Shane’s Hall of Fame career.

In the pre-fight buildup, most believed that Shane was swimming upstream against Margarito, a 4-to-1 favorite, who was riding the wave of his impressive technical knockout victory of Cotto from six months ago. The “Tijuana Tornado’s” strategy has always been to come forward and absorb punishment while unleashing a plethora of his own dizzying punches.
It turns out that Shane – in the words of his great trainer Nazim Richardson – knew how to “swim without getting wet.”

The distractions outside of the ring also seemed to conspire against Mosley. He’d recently cut ties with his father, Jack Mosley, who’d trained him for the majority of his career. His name continues to swirl around the BALCO performance enhancing drugs maelstrom and his crumbling marriage has been front page tabloid fodder.

But while some athletes use such distractions as excuses for poor performances, it seems that Shane just converts negative energy into rocket fuel. Instead of performing like an aging veteran content to cash a seven figure check, Mosley simply put on the performance that will define his stellar legacy, regardless of what happens from here.

Similar to fellow greybeard and Golden Boy Promotions business partner Bernard Hopkins, who tore the fur off the power packing Kelly Pavlik in October, Sugar Shane beat the Tijuana Tornado like the Mexican icon had stolen something from him.

In essence, Margarito’s performance against Cotto – where he brutally handed the talented Puerto Rican his only pro defeat – solidified him as bankable superstar with a title belt in tow, something Shane had been for quite some time.

I guess no one realized how important that distinction was to Mosley, until he’d completed accomplishing his goal with the fervor of a Beyonce dance routine. It took less than thirty minutes of boxing for Shane to deconstruct his worthy opponent’s frightening, intimidating aura.

His nine round destruction of Margarito came to a close with the Mexican warrior slumped on the canvas lisping something to the effect of, “umm, umm, umm, I’ll have a cheeseburger, fries and strawberry shake,” to the referee.

Shane simply stood toe-to-toe with Margarito, something most opponents have dreaded. He exhibited an effective left jab, something he’s not particularly known for, and launched overhand rights and left hooks that shook Margarito to the core.

The blueprint of toppling Margarito was accepted to be engaging and hitting him, then moving away to maintain a safe distance. Cotto had done an excellent job of this for the entire first half of his fight, before Margarito stalked and walked him down with the determination and commitment of the crazy astronaut lady.

But Shane dominated from the opening bell, bullying the bully and tying him up after letting his punches fly. Margarito smiled after each flush right hand he swallowed, betraying the punishment he was absorbing. It seemed that his face was frozen in a perpetual smirk, thanks to Mosley’s remarkable connection rate. As Margarito continued to move forward, Sugar Shane was right there to greet him with welcoming fists.

While most fighters are past their prime in their mid to late 30’s, Mosley still has the speed, power, quickness and acumen to man the top of the mountain. No one had ever knocked Margarito out. Until this weekend, that is.
And now, the logical next step has to include some business with the other pound-for-pound greats Manny Pacquaio and Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather. And someone had the nerve to say that boxing is dead?

In the fight game, you have to be skilled, courageous, entertaining, pretty, sweet, box office and one tough hombre to warrant the nom de guerre of Sugar. And it’s safe to say that Shane Mosley is still worthy of his nickname.

This story is filed under: Leave Me Alone, I'm Watching the Game!, Sports

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