by James Slater – This past Saturday evening in Las Vegas, we all saw in graphic detail what can happen to a fighter, any fighter, if he risks sticking around too long in the sport of boxing. In getting badly and embarrassingly beaten by Manny Pacquiao, 35-year-old Oscar De La Hoya looked the epitome of an old man. Boxing, as was proven once again, can be a cruel sport and the sweet science is not something too many fighters are able to practice efficiently as they age. There have been, and are, exceptions, obviously (see Bernard Hopkins, George Foreman and, going farther back, Archie Moore) but in general boxing is no sport for old men.
Early next year, however, another fighter well into his mid-thirties (37 to be exact) will rise to the challenge of not only Father Time, but of the fearsome “Tijuana Tornado” himself, Antonio Maragrito – himself a mere kid at age 30. “Sugar” Shane Mosley is the fighter unable to accept that his best days have passed, and, commendably perhaps, depending on your outlook, the former lightweight, welterweight and light-middleweight world champion takes on the WBA 147-pound boss on January 24th.
Mosley, 45-5(38) has even gone on record saying he will KO a “delusional” Margarito, claiming he will be able to catch an overconfident champion as he advances. In truth, though, is it Mosley who is delusional? And could a similar fate to the one that met “The Golden Boy” be on the cards for “Sugar?”
Like Oscar did in his final bout before facing Pacquiao, Shane looked pretty poor in his last fight. Hit plenty by the raw and somewhat crude Ricardo Mayorga, Mosley had to dig deep so as to win. He did do, spectacularly, in the dying seconds of the 12th and last round, as he shocked the Nicaraguan with a last second KO. This saved the day, and the Margarito fight, for Mosley, but it was no great advertisement for his chances in January. Okay, the Mayorga fight was up at light-middleweight, and Mosley is and always has been a better fighter at welterweight, and, with regard to the De La Hoya comparison, Mosley will not be going in with a speedster in his next fight – nor will the 37-year-old be having his first fight down at 147 for seven years.
But could Mosley, like De La Hoya, suddenly age over night? Sure he could (if he didn’t already, at least to some degree, in the Mayorga battle), and if he does find he’s nothing but an old man in the ring with “Tony,” he’s in trouble. Big trouble. With his fighting heart – heart even greater than the type De La Hoya possesses – Mosley will not quit the way Oscar was forced to. Instead, Mosley will likely take a steady and unpalatable beating. Realising he has pushed his luck too far, Mosley will, this writer is sure, regret having signed to fight Margarito.
The end of 2008 has seen one Golden Boy promoted fighter lose the battle with Father Time – this fighter the man who the very nickname of Golden Boy was given to in the first place – there is a very good (or bad) chance the beginning of 2009 will see another fighter from the same stable also lose this battle.
Mosley has said, and may even truly believe, that he will KO Margarito in January. If Shane is actually able to pull that miracle off his place in boxing history will be a very special one indeed. Instead, however, you can look for another first – Mosley suffering a knockout defeat; somewhere around the 8th or 9th round.