New York, NY– In an intriguing “crossroads” type affair, former “pound for pound” king and ring legend “Sugar” Shane Mosley (46-6, 39 KOs) throws hands with television’s “Contender” season 1 winner and former WBC champion Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora (22-1-1, 6 KOS) over 12 scheduled rounds of throw down at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Saturday night at 9 PM ET on HBO PPV.
MOSLEY’S ROAD TO BECOMING SUGAR SWEET
Shane Mosley exploded on the scene recording an outstanding perfect 34 victories with 32 knockouts before facing Oscar De La Hoya. In a career defining fight for Mosley, he and De La Hoya fought at an excruciatingly violent pace, and typified their act of madness with a memorable 12th round of reckless abandonment to the finish. Mosley proved to be the better man, winning a split decision handing Oscar his first true defeat. In the wake of his newly found super-stardom, Mosley successfully defended his titles three times before meeting a prime and hungry Vernon Forrest. Forrest shockingly handled the smaller Mosley with ease and managed to send him to the canvas twice in round two. The courageous Mosley was able to get up and fight valiantly to the finish. Losing the bout on all scorecards, Mosley won the admiration of fight fans world wide. Six months later, Mosley and Forrest would do it again, and a better version of Mosley surfaced on that night, however the result would read the same (L UD 12). Being the competitive enforcer that he his, Mosley regrouped and returned to earn a pair of wins, most notably against old rival Oscar De la Hoya (W UD 12), but in postmortem, Shane would then go on to be upset in a couple of scraps against defensive wizard Winky Wright (L UD 12, twice). Removed from the aforementioned setbacks to Wright, again, Shane would bounce back, and mark the return of the Mosley of old by scoring two consecutive back-to-back TKO wins over former belt holder Fernando Vargas (W TKO 10, W TKO 6). After dispatching of Vargas, and winning his next fight, Shane went onto face Miguel Cotto. In a closely contested scintillating war of action fighters, Mosley dropped a unanimous decision to Cotto. Always a good sportsmen, Mosley didn’t make excuses or complain about the unfavorable verdict and fueled another comeback. In his next bout, Shane knocked out madman thug Ricardo Mayorga with a blistering hook in the 12th round. After trashing Mayogra, Mosley scored his most impressive win in years by pounding the hell out of boxing’s latest feared bad boy Antonio Margarito (W KO 9). After the collapse of what would have been the biggest fight of all time between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Shane, who had been calling out Mayweather for years, was given his opportunity to finally meet Floyd. With exception of Shane staggering Mayweather in round 2, Mayweather won virtually every round against Mosley (L UD12).
CLOSER LOOK AT SUGAR
Mosley brings action, intensity, passion, heart and drama to the show. Despite his advanced age, Shane still has great hand speed and has serious power that can turn your lights out at any moment, especially in the late rounds. In facing some of the best fighters of the past 20 years, Mosley also enjoys a highly keen boxing IQ and has been celebrated as one of the sports best fighters for the nearly a dozen of years.
THE SNAKES SLITHERY PATH TO CONTENTION
In unconventional fashion, by way of a successful reality series; relative unknown boxer Sergio Mora became a house hold name before he was even close to being ranked by a major organization. During his tenure on the show, Sergio entertainingly cut down his opposition one after another, and by picking up wins against against top ranked 160 pounders Ishe Smith (W UD 5) and Jesse Brinkley (W UD 5), Mora quickly became a fan favorite to the series’s followers. With a win over Brinkley, Mora solidified his position to challenge for the show’s final bout against former title challenger and once highly regarded pug Peter Manfredo Jr. In a classic slug fest, both combatants fired bombs at each other for 8 blistering rounds of action. In the end, Mora was awarded a close decision on points, which immediately prompted fans to desire a rematch. The return bout lived up to the hype, and again, over several closely contested rounds, Mora’s hand was raised in victory. Thereafter, Mora went on to earn two straight wins (1 KO) before being almost upset by journeymen thug Elvin Ayala (D 10). In aftermath, a very disappointed Mora regrouped and in his next bout picked up an impressive knockout which earned him a shot at then WBC champ Vernon “The Viper” Forrest. In a bout where absolutely no creditable ringside reporter gave Sergio a chance, Mora put forth the performance of his life, defied the critics skepticism, and was able to box his way to a points nod against one of boxing’s most recent masters of the game (W MD 12). In the immediate rematch, the “Viper” in Forrest (we had been used to seeing) surfaced and battered Mora from pillar to post over 12 one sided rounds (L UD 12). After the second fight with Forrest, Mora took sometime off to regroup. This past April, Sergio emerged back on the scene with an explosive seventh round whack over Calvin Green.
CLOSER LOOK AT SNAKE
Sergio has tremendous hand and foot speed that are consistently in concert with one another and fires rapid combination’s at a commanding work rate. Mora has a deceptive “trap setting” defense and possesses excellent lateral movement. Also, Snake successfully switches form a conventional stance to south paw style on the drop of a dime. Mora also has a tremendous chin, but lacks pop in his shots.
UNDER CARD IS STACKED!
Up and coming knockout artist Saul Alvarez (33-0-1, 25 KOs) squares off against rugged former belt holder Carlos Baldomir (45-12-6, 14 KOs) in a 10 round junior middleweights (154) scrap.
Once promising light welterweight (140) Victor Ortiz (27-2-1, 21 KOs) meets former titlist Vivian Harris (29-4-1, 19 KOs) in a scheduled 10 rounds rounder.
Featherweights (126) Daniel Ponce De Leon(39-2, 32 KOs) and Antonio Escalante (24-2, 15 KOs) open the show in a proposed 10 rounder.
SHOWTIME DELIVERS TONIGHT
The popular fight series Sho Box returns Friday with a welterweight (147) main event when Freddy Hernandez (28-1, 19 KOS) take on Mike Anchondo (30-2, 19 KOs) in a scheduled 10 rounds affair at Buffalo Bill’s Star Arena in Nevada, Tonight at 11 PM ET on Showtime.
John Signorella