This was supposed to be one for the ages with the crafty technician in Mosley vs. a wily veteran in De La Hoya... instead we got somewhat of a boxing clinic via Mr. Mosley.
I found this fight to be highly entertaining throughout, but it was mostly Shane counterpunching De La Hoya with Oscar showing off his (once) world class chin.
Mosley seemed to land the right hand AT WILL all night, and he somewhat exposed De La Hoya's aggression as an easy thing to use against him.
Oscar kept a solid pace all fight as he always did, but he was definitely hurt and had his bell rung numerous times. Mosley seemed to box Oscar's face off from the 4th round on, and any lesser fighter would have succumbed to Shane's blows much earlier than the final bell.
The announcers called it a close fight throughout with Mosley pulling away in the latter rounds, but I completely disagree with Harold Lederman's sconsistently asinine scorecards and call this one a boxing lesson as opposed to a fight.
Oscar supposedly beat Pernell Whitaker with the same pillow punches and aggression he used against Mosley, but the judges smartened up and awarded the correct fighter the championship belt.
I think that Mosley's skill actually exposed parts of De La Hoya (such as his weakness to body shots) which eventually created the downward spiral Oscar faced late in his career.
Have you ever seen this classic? Was it closer than I thought?
There was also a controversial decision in these two's rematch... but that's for another day!
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