Boxing is back at The Staples Center in downtown LA on Saturday, January 24th 2009. The two combatants are the Mexican favorite Antonio Margarito (37-5, 27 KO’s) putting his WBA Welterweight title on the line against Shane Mosley (45-5, 38 KO’s). Margarito is 30 and stands 5’11” and Mosley is 37 and goes 5’9”. The fight will be on HBO World Championship Boxing and starts at 7 pm PT. The press conference today brought out the brass from HBO, Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions to name a few. While there were no official signs or flashy posters yet, the fight looks to be billed as “The Battle for LA” per Bob Arum. The tickets are priced between $50 and $300 and the promoters put out an offer that would allow any fan that buys $1000 worth of tickets to receive a glove autographed by both fighters. It’s a steep price tag for the souvenir but not a bad idea either way.
Mosley now has Nazim Richardson as his trainer and team Margarito is intact with Sergio Diaz and Frank Espinoza.
Mosley and Nazim Richardson
Both fighters took the obligatory turn at the mike and both looked confident and relaxed. Both camps promised that this would be an action fight with both teams predicting obviously.
We all know Margarito will bring pressure and Mosley will look to use speed and angles. The same issue that will haunt De La Hoya may rear its head for Mosley in this fight. Mosley did not look pound for pound good in his last contest with Mayorga and he is now fighting a non-stop pressure fighter who can also take you out. Many will say this is a bad fight for Mosley as his opponent can make you look awful if you are not perfect like Pacquiao showed De La Hoya. On the other side, Mosley has made a career of beating “bigger” men; F. Vargas, Mayorga, A. Diaz, Stone and he went 12 rounds with Miguel Cotto. Can Mosley out box Margarito while piling up points of his own or can he KO Margarito, Mosley says “He is going to end up getting knocked out because he’ll come right at me and I’ll catch him.” I favor Margarito based more on Mosley’s last outing and his age and a loss of reflex and speed. However, Mosley has never been knocked out and has been in with big punchers. Shane can hang in for 12 rounds and he can cause Marg. some problems but he has to have a great game plan and the will to stick with it. This fight is a litmus test for Mosley’s career. If he wins he is still a major player in the division and could look to rematch Cotto. A loss, especially a bad one, would probably mean another Golden Boy associate sticks to promoting 100% of the time. Crossroads fights are sure fun aren’t they?
See you at the Fights and Thanks for your time.
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