Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime – By Paul Strauss: Sugar Shane Mosley has been quoted as saying, “I love a good scrap!” Well, he didn’t show much love tonight in his almost shutout loss to Manny Pacquiao. The pre-fight hype for this fight was unbelievable. In fact, it didn’t even stop leading right up to the main event. Reruns of the Showtime and CBS episodes of 360 were being shown. Fans were getting fidgety in their seats. Its was like, “Come on already.!”
Sugar Shane and his trainer Nasim Richardson had everyone but the odds makers convinced that he was going to put up a good fight, but when it came right down to it, as announcer Gus Johnson said, “Shane didn’t come to fight.” A less harsh way of putting it might be that he wasn’t willing to take the necessary risks to win rounds. Punch stats had him throwing only five combinations in the whole fight. Incredible!
Over the course of the fight he landed a good shot here and there. At times he would get a bit of a jab going, but as soon as Manny would retaliate, then back on the move Shane would go, or into a clinch. There also were a lot of head clashes, because when Manny would press forward, Shane would try to bend in and grab and hold.
At about 1:45 of the third round, Manny caught Shane with a straight left and dropped him. From Shane’s expression while he was still on the seat of his pants, it was obvious he had been hurt. In the post fight interview, Shane admitted that feeling Manny’s power from that punch put him in a much more defensive minded posture. He said that was the hardest he had been hit in a long time. He also admitted that he didn’t do enough; that he didn’t take the necessary risks needed to win the fight. He heaped praise on Manny, and said that Manny is definitely the best fighter in the world.
The fight started in a very cautious mode. Neither fighter did that much, but Manny at least was trying to press the action a bit, and stepped in with a few combinations. Already in he second round, their heads started to clash. In the third round, Manny opened up with a combination, and Shane bent down and in just as Manny threw a straight left. The punch landed at the back left side of Shane’s jaw, and put him down, So, after three rounds, Shane had already dug himself a four point hole.
The only draw back for Manny was that he didn’t seem to be as mobile as usual. Normally he attacks with lots of head movement and side to side and in and out action as well. Tonight he was going straight in with not much head movement. It seemed he was open for possible counters, but Shane attempted very few. In between rounds, trainer Freddie Roach pointed out to Manny that essentially Shane was moving in one direction -to his left- and that Manny should trap him and unleash his attack.
By the fifth round, fans were already booing. They wanted more action, and knew it was Shane’s fault. Trainer Nasim Richardson exercised a little physchology between rounds when he told Shane, “We’re in good shape.” He wanted Shane to use his right hook against Manny during those times when Manny would put on the earmuffs. The idea was to come around behind the gloves, but that didn’t happen much either.
The pattern continued with Manny just not being his normal self. He was following Shane too much. Shane he stayed on the move and occasionally threw a punch here and there and then he would grab for dear life when he felt he was in serious trouble. Between the eighth and ninth rounds Nasim kept up the b.s. by telling Shane that Manny was tired. Shane wasn’t buying it.
In the tenth round, the two fighters bumped into each other and their feet got tangled and their legs crossed. As a result Manny fell down. Referee Kenny Bayless, who appeared to have a good angle on things, mistakenly called a knockdown. Oh, oh, that really ticked off Manny, and when the action resumed, he attacked Shane with a fury. He kept it up in the eleventh and twelfth as well, and Shane was paying the price. Leather was bouncing off of his body and head. When all was said and done, Manny had thrown and landed twice as many punches as Shane, but for a Pacman fight, his count was low. Overall, the fight was not close to all of the hype.
One interesting tidbit of information that came out in the post fight interview with Manny was an admission on his part that his legs were bothering him. He said they hurt and that he couldn’t move the way he wanted. He added he had the problem once before, and that was during the Morquez fight. He didn’t say whether it was the first or second. As far as his immediate plans are concerned, he plans to resume his congressional duties, and leave the matchmaking up to promoter Bob Arum.
The semi-main event between Jorge Arce and Wilfredo Vasquez, Jr. was very exciting. Arce was the experienced warrior, who definitely came to fight. Talk about a willingness to take risk, he was taking them over and over again, and paying the price as a result. But, he was accomplishing what he wanted and that was tremendous pressure on his younger undefeated opponent. In the third round, Arce had developed a lightning bolt shaped cut on the left side of his nose. Blood from it would be smeared over the left side of his face throughtout the rest of the fight. But, for Arce that’s to be expected. He likes to think that he fights better when he’s been cut?
In the fourth round, Arce missed a right and was just starting a left hook, when Vasquez beat him to the punch with his own counter left hook. Bam, and down went Arce. It was a hard punch and definitely hurt El Terrible, but he seemed more embarrassed than anything. So, even though Arce was ahead up to this point, the fourth ended up being a ten – eight round for Vasquez. In the fifth, Arce exhibited some signs of fatigue, but he kept pressing the action through the next couple of rounds.
Arce kept trying to throw lead rights to the body from too far away, and as a result was getting countered with those good left hooks from Vasquez. In the ninth round, Vasquez seemed to be sitting down on his shots and having more success. But, when the eleventh round started, Arce somehow found another gear, and came out smoking. It was pressure, pressure and more pressure. The only question remaining was would he punch himself out and them be susceptible to Vasquez’ counters. It didn’t happen, and in fact Arce came out even harder in the eleventh round, and Vasquez was the one to start wilting. Arce smelled a possible knockout, and from some unknown resevoir he brought up a tremendous flurry of shots, some missed, but a lot of them started to land. Vasquez, Jr’s father saw enough and threw in the towel. Arce came away with a TKO in the 11th.
The fight before that involved a gift of sorts for Kelly Pavlik. The Ghost was making his comeback from rehab and a long lay off. The ring rust was evident, but credit his undefeated opponent Alfonso Lopez. Lopez had a good game plan and he stuck to it. For the most part. he used good movement and combinations to keep Pavlik offset. He also showed good hand speed.
After the first couple of rounds, trainer Jack Loew told Kelly that he had to step it up. “You’ve got to bend your knees and move your head”, Loew said. Kelly did follow instructions somewhat, but Lopez came back in the fourth with good combinations. Loew told Kelly that that was what he wanted him to do. He said you’re throwing one punch at a time, and it’s not working! Kelly suffered a small cut above the right eye as the result of an accidental head butt.
Pavlik landed some hard shots, especially counter left hooks, and lead rights, but Lopez took them well, and would come right back with his own combinations. In the tenth and final round, Pavlik finally started to get to Lopez. The effects of Pavlik’s punches finally caught up with Lopez and he was showing the wear and tear with a cut over his right eye, but he fought back and made it through to the finish.
The fight seemed to be very close, and easily could have gone Lopez’ way. Even Jack Loew believed that as evidenced by his comments between rounds. Judge Adelyde Byrd saw the fight that way and scored it a draw at 95-95. However, judge Richard Houck scored it 98-92, and judge C.J. Roles scored it 99-91. Lopez deserved better. He fought well, and controlled much of the action throughout. Hopefully his day will come.