Shane Mosley thought he did enough to get a much-needed win over Sergio Mora. Compubox said Mosley won easily. The HBO announce team described the fight as if it were a blowout. HBO's ringside judge Harold Lederman had it 117-111. But in the only place it counts, only one of the judges at Staples Center agreed. Mosley outlanded Mora by 68 punches but all he got was a draw for his efforts. Judge Kermit Bayless gave the win to Mora 115-113 while David Denkin had it 116-112 for Mosley. The most veteran of the three judges Lou Moret scored it a 114-114 draw.
For the screams of robbery and travesty, Mosley, the supposed landslide winner, didn't throw a fit after the fight.
"You know what? Sergio fought a hard fight. I thought maybe it went my way," Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) told HBO's Larry Merchant. "A draw? We both fought hard so what can you say?"
Mora, who many thought got a gift with the decision, stood up and boldly said he'd won.
"Yes. I thought I won the fight. I thought I did enough to win the decision," Mora told Merchant. "I felt I won this fight by at least two rounds."
Over the first six rounds, Mora stayed on his horse and looked unwilling to mix it up. He was outlanded 54-24 to that point and was down 5-1 on the Yahoo! boxing blog scorecard.
But the fight took a turn over the final six rounds. Mosley tired a bit in rounds seven through nine. Mora (22-1-2, 6 KOs) also began to draw him in so that he could clutch, hold and brawl inside. Both fighters landed their share of punches (38 to 23 for Mosley). There were times when Mora was the cleaner puncher but Mosley stood right there and took the shots.
The final three rounds were the best of the fight. They were punctuated by some good inside fighting. The Los Angeles crowd finally got into the fight as Mosley outlanded Mora 59-46 down the stretch. Was it enough for Mora to steal the fight? We didn't think so, scoring it 116-112, but Mosley did leave the door open for Mora to get back into the fight. Yahoo! Sports' lead boxing writer Kevin Iole had it 115-113 for Mosley. The 39-year-old Mosley did give credit to Mora for being elusive.
"I thought it was a good fight. Sergio is not a big puncher so he had to box. That’s his main thing. He had to box and move around," said Mosley. "I knew what my job was, but it was hard to get him. He moves pretty fast."
The screams off ripoff are a bit silly. Mosley landed 161-of-522 (31%) while Mora was 82-of-445 (18%). No fighter who lands an average of just over 13 punches a round did enough definitive damage to have fans or the media say he got jobbed or robbed.
Let's also put a stop to any postfight panic that may set in. Saying this draw may cost Mosley a big fight down the road is ridiculous. Golden Boy Promotions will make any fight it wants with Mosley. Now the question is, based on this performance, should the 39-year-old get a fight against a guy like Manny Pacquaio? Maybe not.
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