Mayweather survives onslaught
Floyd Mayweather resisted a furious early onslaught by fellow
American Shane Mosley to preserve his unbeaten professional record with
an unanimous points victory in a welterweight bout on Saturday.
Widely regarded as the best defensive fighter of his generation,
Mayweather dominated 11 of the 12 rounds with his lightning hand speed
and agile movement to improve his career record to 41-0 with 25
knockouts.
A 4-1 favourite going into the highly anticipated bout at the MGM
Grand Garden Arena, Mayweather was stunned by a flurry of punishing
blows from Mosley in the second round.
However, the 33-year-old immediately regained control and he dictated
the rest of the fight with his probing right hand, rock-solid defence
and a series of telling combinations.
“I did what the fans came here to see,” Mayweather said in a ringside
interview. “I went toe-to-toe. That’s not my style but I wanted to give
them that kind of fight and I knew I could do it.” Asked how he had
recovered from Mosley’s early onslaught, Mayweather replied: “It’s a
contact sport and you’re going to get hit. “But when you get hit, you’ve
got to suck it up and keep on fighting. And that’s what I did.” The
flamboyant American gained one-sided verdicts from all three judges
119-109, 119-109 and 118-110.
WBA welterweight champion Mosley, who had not fought since a
ninth-round TKO upset of feared Mexican slugger Antonio Margarito in
Jan. 2009, slipped to 46-6 with 39 knockouts.
CONFIDENT START Watched by a crowd of around 16,000 that included
Hollywood actors Will Smith and Leonardo DiCaprio and boxing greats
Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, Mayweather made a confident start.
Mosley then responded in round two, landing several punishing blows
with his right hand on Mayweather’s head.
Mayweather briefly buckled and was pinned against the ropes after
Mosley switched his attack to a series of body jabs.
“I caught him with my big right hand and I tried to move around but
he was too quick and I was too tight,” Mosley, 38, said of his dominance
in the second round.
“After I landed the right hand, I thought I needed to knock him out
but I needed to do it sooner than later. But I couldn’t adjust and he
did.” With Mosley’s work rate slowing, Mayweather regained the
initiative in rounds three and four with several well executed
combinations and low body jabs. Looking fresher and much more composed,
he retained control in round five, continually peppering Mosley,
bloodying his nose with his probing right hand while maintaining a tight
defence. In the eighth round, Mosley was reprimanded by the referee for
grabbing his opponent’s arm and a grinning Mayweather responded with a
verbal volley while landing a series of blows to the head.
Mayweather, who had backpeddled in the earlier rounds, continued to
push forward and he dictated the rest of the fight with measured body
jabs and crunching rights.
He dominated the official ringside statistics, connecting with 208 of
477 punches thrown to 92 of 452 for Mosley.
LAS VEGAB, Reuters |