Losers:
5. PPV Audience: Everything would have had to gone right in order for this card to justify $44.95 ($54.95 in HD). While the live crowd was energized by witnessing three knockouts prior to the main event, the energy did not translate to those watching at home. Once again a Golden Boy PPV featured early stoppages that forced HBO announcers to kill almost an hour of time because the main event won’t start before 11pm EST.
This is yet another example of why folks that purchase a UFC PPV get more bang for their buck. Early stoppages during a UFC PPV allow producers to show bouts that took place prior to the arrival of the live audience. Of course, UFC fight cards feature enthusiastic fans that are in their seats long before the main event.
4. Ringside Judges: Kermit Bayless and Lou Moret: Shane Mosley deserved a comfortable win on the scorecards. I understand that making your opponent miss is a critical part of the sweet science, but when a person refuses to throw punches, he does not deserve to win a round. Mosley was not landing a lot of punches, but he was at least trying to make a fight. Mora ran from the opening bell, and failed to land anything of significance early, other than his lead shoulder. A closer look at the scorecards reveals that Mosley swept the final two rounds on the judges’ cards to salvage the draw. That is actually ammo for the visually impaired that felt that Mora won the fight. Round 11 was the one round that Mora let his hands go, and landed clean punches on an exhausted Mosley.
Perhaps I should have spent the extra $10 for the HD feed, because I obviously saw a different fight.
3. Andre Berto: The common sense of taking the short money now in order to make big paydays in the future never entered Berto’s mind. Rather than fighting in front of an enthusiastic audience, against a vulnerable Hall of Famer; Berto remains on the sidelines waiting to see if he’ll get the chance to fight again in 2010. I know that there was more to the deal than a 60/40 split, but it had to beat the alternative. I’m not saying that Berto should have given the money back that he was overpaid for fighting in an empty arena against Carlos Quintana, but I probably would have nodded and accepted the next deal dangled by a network that wanted to air my next fight.
2. Sergio Mora: I did pick the “Latin Feint” to pull the upset against Mosley. I believed when he said he was going to use the PPV platform to make up for lost time squandered during his career. Instead, he showed up three lbs. heavy at the weigh in, he ran for nine rounds, and then he actually suggested a rematch takes place during the post fight press conference.
There is no doubt that the gift draw will ensure that Mora gets another fight on TV. He is, after all, promoted by Golden Boy. I wish Mora well, but I will only tune in if his fights are first heavily edited with the theme song of “The Contender” playing in the background.
1. “Sugar’ Shane Mosley: Mosley won the fight, but he had much more to lose going into this bout than Mora. Mosley hoped to again silence critics that suggested he should hang up his gloves. He hoped that a victory would set him up for the winner of Pacquiao – Margarito, or perhaps a rematch with Miguel Cotto. Mosley’s chances to be matched against a Top Rank fighter went from slim to none as soon as Golden Boy’s latest lawsuit against Top Rank was announced. I thought Alfredo Angulo would provide Mosley with the chance to prove he could still pull the trigger against a pressure fighter, but there have been reports that Angulo was deported to Mexico earlier this week.
My advice for Mosley is to move back to welterweight and stay there. He has moved between welterweight and junior middleweight throughout his career, but he has always been more effective at 147 lbs. If the Berto fight does not get made, perhaps someone from junior welterweight will come forward. At this point there is no longer any reason to chase anyone outside of or inside of the ring.
Jason could be reached for questions or comments at
pribs2000@yahoo.comSeptember 23, 2010