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No Rest for the Weary: Mosley Plans Rebound Against Alvarez

Published

12 years ago

May 3, 2012

Face it. Shane Mosley looked just plain tired in his last fight.

Against Manny Pacquiao last May, in what will be just two days short of an entire year this Saturday when he faces the younger and naturally bigger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, it appeared that one of the few boxers who have ever usefully carried the moniker of “Sugar” into a boxing career, had lost the sweetness of his science.

Shane Mosley looked old.

In his prime, he was fast and powerful enough to be one of the most feared lightweights in history, a multi-division champion and a pound-for-pound king, but the 39-year-old version of Mosley that showed up that night didn’t even seem like he wanted to be there.

Instead of standing and trading with Pacquiao, like he did in the two memorable encounters with Oscar De La Hoya that solidified his stature among boxing’s biggest stars, Mosley was content to stay far way from his opponent after getting sent to the canvas in round three. He went on to lose by what had to be an embarrassingly wide margin for the once proud former champion.Judges scored the bout 120-107, 120-108 and 119-108.

Mosley looked done. Surely, after the loss to Pacquiao, preceded by a draw with Sergio Mora and being soundly outboxed by Floyd Mayweather, Mosley had seen his last fight. After all, the boxing ring isn’t kind to the aging or unenthused.

Ah, but boxing has a way of keeping guys around, doesn’t it? When Alvarez’s team started looking for the undefeated uber-prospect’s next opponent, Mosley’s name surfaced quickly. And why not? As impressive as Alvarez has been thus far in his short career, he’s fought no one near the level of Shane Mosley. And Mosley, while conceding he had a poor showing against Pacquiao last May, seems anxious to get back in the ring again to prove his mettle.

“I will be the first fighter to beat Canelo,” he confidently asserted on a recent media conference call.

Boxing is probably the most difficult sport in the world. If you don’t believe me, go hit a heavy bag as hard as you can for nine minutes and see how your body feels afterwards. Then think about how in a real fight, you’d be moving around the ring trying to avoid punches, many of which would be pummeling you anyways. Then think about how nine minutes is only three rounds.

Nonetheless, Mosley’s career will continue for what is scheduled to be thirty-six more minutes of ring time, and to his credit he even recognizes how some people might view him these days.

“Some media members might be overlooking me because of my age,” he said. Moreover, Mosley believes his opponent may be overlooking him a bit too, which is why he thinks he’ll have the edge on May 5 adding, “Canelo will be surprised when he’s not fighting the 40-year-old fighter he thinks I am.”

While Mosley most certainly will be a 40-year-old fighter on Saturday, the real question will be whether or not he comes to the ring willing to engage—it’s whether or not he really wants to be there. Against Pacquaio, Mosley said and did all the right things right up until he tasted Manny’s power. After that, it wasn’t that he seemed like an old fighter, rather it seemed like he was a tired fighter who didn’t want to be there.

Mosley isn’t looking back. He says he feels sharp and expects to fight that way against Alvarez.

“I feel young, but I have the wisdom of an older fighter,” he said.“I’m going to dominate.”

In order to do that, Mosley won’t just need to feel young. He’ll need to fight young, too. If he does, Mosley has the power, speed and ability to take home a win in what would surely be a stunning upset. And if he doesn’t, the weary Mosley will find no rest inside the ring against a hungry, young competitor like Saul Alvarez.

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

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