Mendoza: One KO punch will do it for Shane Mosley
Saturday, May 1, 2010
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IN September last year, Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Juan Manuel Marquez.
Mayweather won.
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On points.
It was his first fight after ending a two-year hiatus. He was rusty. He wasn’t trusty.
You say, Marquez was much smaller than Mayweather. The Mexican was peanuts.
Rust was of no consequence. Mayweather was always superior of the two, like Ali versus Frazier.
But no. To Mayweather, that’s not an incentive at all.
To Mayweather, he fights not to win by knockout but rather, on points.
The reason’s as simple as ABC. Mayweather practices the sport’s main dictum to the letter: Boxing is the art of self-defense.
You fight to defend, never to initiate offense.
Your offense is your defense.
Among all prizefighters today, it is Mayweather who has a doctorate degree in defense. He is Mao, Giap and Alexander the Great rolled into one.
Thus, in all of his 40 fights, Mayweather has remained unbeaten.
He isn’t a knockout artist but he doesn’t mind.
He is an artist in crafting wins and to him, that’s what counts.
But didn’t he knock out Ricky Hatton to hand the Briton’s first ever defeat?
Yes, indeed.
But the knockout came when Mayweather had successfully fagged out Hatton.
That has always been Mayweather’s formula: Tire out an opponent with a bewildering defense before deliving the killer blow.
He’ll do that against Mosley today.
The Hatton KO was Mayweather’s 39th win in 39 fights—and his 25th KO.
Still and all, against Mosley today, I don’t want Mayweather to win.
OK, you say I’m being emotional. Guilty as charged.
But not wanting and predicting are two different worlds.
I may not like Mayweather to win, but I predict him to win.
I may not pick Mayweather to win, but I see him as a winner.
Mosley has one chance: A knockout punch, which is really huge. His 35 KOs in 51 fights would attest to that.
But how to land the KO blow is the question.
I don’t care if he delivers it via Air 21, LBC or www.Express-DHL. Just deliver it.
But then again, Mayweather Jr. isn’t the express train but the bullet train. Very unhittable. Unreachable.
Beating Mayweather Jr. isn’t only a tall order for Mosley, it’s taller than Mt. Everest.
