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So sweet! 'Sugar' Shane Mosley takes WBC belt
Posted: Tuesday June 20, 2000 01:51 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Shane Mosley put his actions to words after upsetting Oscar De La Hoya for the WBC welterweight championship. "We put on a spectacular fight," Mosley said simply. Indeed they did. Mosley and De La Hoya had a crowd of some 20,000 in the Staples Center roaring throughout the 12 rounds as they matched boxing skills and punching power. With show business stars and great fighters such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman watching, the two men went toe to toe in the hectic final round. It turned out that Mosley, who landed 45 of 88 punches to 18 of 72 for De La Hoya in the final three minutes, needed that round to win the fight, which he earned on a split decision. Judge Lou Filippo scored it for Mosley 116-112 and Judge Pat Russell favored the new champion 115-113. Judge Marqi Samon scored it 115-113 for De La Hoya. If Russell had given De La Hoya the last round, his score would have been 114-114 and De La Hoya would have kept the title on a draw.
"It was a great fight, a close fight," said the 27-year-old Mosley, of nearby Pomona. "We went soul searching. We showed we're two great warriors from the Los Angeles area. De La Hoya is a great champion. I was just a better man tonight." De La Hoya, who grew up on the streets of East Los Angeles, suffered his second loss in three fights. Last Sept. 15 he lost a majority decision to Felix Trinidad. "There has to be a rematch," the 28-year-old De La Hoya said. "Every great fight deserves a rematch. He's a great champion. People got their money's worth. "He kept on coming. He was in great condition. He had good power." Mosley, a former IBF lightweight champion who weighed the welterweight limit of 147 pounds, boosted his record to 35-0 with 32 knockouts. In the first half of the fight it appeared Mosley might be headed for his first defeat as he seemed to lose steam from the body punches of De La Hoya, 1461/2, now 32-2 with 26 knockouts. De La Hoya fought much better than he did against Trinidad when he was highly criticized for staying away from his opponent in the final three rounds. But Mosley turned the tide in the second half of the fight with his speed and by matching De La Hoya's punching power. Mosley backed up De La Hoya in the seventh and ninth rounds with hard rights to the head and stiff left jabs. De La Hoya fought back, but Mosley often beat him to the punch. De La Hoya seemed to have the edge in the 11th round, then came that furious final three minutes in which both men came out gunning, but Mosley had the bigger guns. A CompuBox punch analysis credited Mosley with landing 284 of 687 blows, while De La Hoya connected on 257 of 718. Neither man was in danger of going down, but both had badly swollen faces at the end and De La Hoya was bleeding from the nose for several rounds. De La Hoya earned a minimum of $15 million, while Mosley was guaranteed $4.5 million. Should there be a rematch, it would be a 'rubber match.' The two fought as 75-pounders when Mosley was 12 years old and De La Hoya was 11. Mosley said he won that fight while De La Hoya didn't remember.
Neither boxer will forget Saturday night's match. Nor will a lot
of the people who watched it.
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