Where-Was-Mosley?

Where was Mosley ?

Saturday night, I expected to see the "Sugar" Shane Mosley that just went toe-to-toe with Oscar De La

Hoya, or at the very least, A Mosley that would fight back going up against a fellow great boxer in Ronald

"Winky" Wright.

And we all witnessed what appeared to be "Sugar" Shane Mosley step into the ring. But after the first few

rounds, we knew it really wasn't him. Well, at least not the one with excellent execution we've come to know

him for.

When I talked to my counter parts here at thefightgame.tv, I didn't necessarily agree with one of them that

said Mosley needed to take some time off, come back and have a few prep fights, then go for the

championships. I mean, this one person thought Mosley didn't have a chance with De La Hoya but in that

fight, Mosley looked like the Mosley of old and not the one that lost to Vernon Forrest twice. But after this

fight, I see what my counter part saw. And we've seen it before (with Julio Cesar Chavez). While I have no

proof, I can only say that it is my observation that he has lost some of the yearning to fight. Another way of

putting it would be to say he has lost a little of the fighting spirit.

Now, I'm not saying he's washed up or that he sucks. I'm saying he may just need time to clear his head,

enjoy life a little, remember why he got into this game, comeback and kick ass. And I know now that that is

what my counter part was saying before the second De La Hoya fight.

Maybe, just maybe, certain fighters can bring you up to your best and recapture the fighting spirit for that

moment. But without those certain fighters, it just becomes another boxing match.

And I'm not saying this to take away anything from a great fighter like "Winky" Wright. Wright fought the

fight he needed to and in a superb way. But the rivalry with De la Hoya is not there. And from what I saw,

Mosley was just not into the fight.

During the first round, Mosley did okay - not good, but okay. Through the next few rounds, It was becoming

apparent that Mosley had no idea how to close the distance, get in and score on Wright.

Mosley was not moving like he said he would. Mosley would get hit and just stay there. There was very little

side to side movement, head movement, etc.... And while it didn't look like Mosley was getting hurt by the

punches Wright was landing, the punches were accumulating.

Now there were two late rounds were Mosley tried to make a comeback. Mosley began to move more and

did score some good power punches but there was no damage to Wright. I thought that from here on, it

could be Mosley's fight. I thought he had finally found a way into Wrights defenses.

I was wrong. Mosley went back to how he had been fighting in the early rounds - Not well, looking tired and

frustrated - unable to counter. And that's how the rest of the fight went.

Wright on the other hand, looked impressive. I think Wright won nine of the rounds and on my scorecard,

I had it 117-111 for Wright. Mosley blew his shot at Felix Trinidad for an estimated $10 million if he had

won. In the post-fight interview with HBO, Mosley simply stated he had no idea what happened. No

explanation needed though, we all have bad days. He just met the wrong person on the wrong day.

Congratulations to Ronald "Winky" Wright for becoming the undisputed Jr. middleweight champion and for

putting on a great fight. Hopefully, in the future, we can see these two warriors go at it one more time.

Once again, my two cents,

(3/14/04).