Yesterday, I predicted ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley would knock out Anthony ‘The Man’ Mundine in the sixth round. Well, I guess I can say I got the round right, but I picked the wrong fighter.
Anthony Mundine has his career potentially back on track with a TKO victory over Sugar Shane Mosley after Mosley couldn’t come out for the seventh round due to back spasms.
Mundine fought one of his better fights throughout his career tonight. He started out aggressive and kept going after Mosley. It paid handsome dividends in the fourth when he stung Mosley with a big right.
From that point on, Mundine went in for the kill, throwing combinations and looking for what would have been a famous KO.
He might have had it too, but Mosley began to complain of a tight back after the fifth round, and after giving it more one shot, couldn’t continue.
Let’s be clear about one thing. If Shane Mosley couldn’t fight on, he must have been in some serious pain. This isn’t some useless bum out for a payday. Mosley is a five-time, three weight division World Champion, who has been in the ring with some of the greatest fighters of all time. Sugar Shane is also a member of that club himself.
Mosley had designs to get back in the ring with Pacquiao and Mayweather, and a win over Mundine was supposed to be a stepping stone.
To not come back out, knowing his record of never being knocked out would be over, Mosley must have been in agony. The fact some booed him at the end of the fight was absolutely disgraceful.
Mosley is the biggest name to ever fight on these shores. He deserved the respect and benefit of the doubt from the fighting public.
However, Mosley has nowhere to go from here. This man has done it all and has nothing left to prove. It’s time for him to hang up the gloves and take the plaudits that his Hall of Fame career deserves with the grace and humility he always has.
Sugar Shane Mosley is one of the greatest and one of my top two favourite fighters ever (the other being Roy Jones Jr in his prime).
So thank you Sugar Shane for thrilling me as a fight fan and making me fall in love with Boxing. You are everything that is good in an athlete and you deserve everything that will come your way in retirement.
As for Mundine, it was an impressive performance. It is quite clear from this display that he has retained plenty of his power during his drop down the divisions, and that power can hurt these smaller guys. He also looked very sharp, controlled the ring well and most importantly, he looked hungry and aggressive.
So where to from here? Mundine would do much worse than to take the advice of his defeated adversary last night and go and fight an up-and comer in the States. Mosley knows what it takes, and Mundine should heed what he said.
The days of Anthony Mundine fighting guys who are over 40 years old must be over. Nobody in the States will give a damn if he beats another has-been. They have taken noticed that he stopped Mosley, because nobody else, including Mayweather, Wright, De La Hoya and Pacquiao, had ever done so. He needs to follow that up.
My advice is that Anthony Mundine should fight either Carlos Molina or undefeated WBO Light Middleweight World Champion Demetrius Andrade next.
Both guys are known in the States, and a victory over either would certainly make people in the States take notice. It would open the door to a fight with Cotto, Alvarez or Austin Trout. Beat one those? He may get his fight with Pretty Boy Floyd.
Mundine has made his goals clear. To achieve these goals at his age requires he take very risky fights. He can’t afford to take the safe option this time, but his win against Mosley suggests there may be life in Anthony Mundine’s career yet. Let’s hope he can get us genuinely excited this time.
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