Mosley is one of my favorites there is, and Berto is my favorite upstart. I’m looking forward to both of them winning strongly, and I will be disappointed with anything less.

The question in my mind is: can Mosley finish Mayorga faster than Oscar did? Anything less than six rounds is a really nice feather in Mosley’s cap. A KO of any kind will be satisfactory, and a points win will be a bit of a disappointment, unless the fight itself is somehow genuinely competitive.

Just for fun, I’ll hold Berto to the same yardstick. For his win to really impress, he needs to exceed Oscar and KO Forbes.

Will there be talk of Berto vs. Mosley after this? I hope not. Much as I like both guys, it’s a bad match up for both of them, proving little for Mosley (he already beat a young buck when he creamed Collazo), and offering too much of a challenge too soon for Berto.

Mosley dream list for next fight: (1) PBF (a longshot), (2) Margarito, (3) Williams, (3) Cotto rematch. I don’t care to see him fight Oscar or Forrest again.

For Berto, time to step up. Good fight for him next would be Cintron, Clottey if he wants a stiffer challenge and Collazo if he wants an easier one.

Mosley TKO 4
Berto UD, about 118-110

And Gamboa next week

Safe to say I’m in boxing heaven

Not his best.

Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Jim. Come on.

Sorry, call me a cheese-ball.

Enjoying this special on Berto. Good stuff.

Merchant just referred to Berto as a “pretty face.” That hadn’t occured to me. Uh, pretty face? Berto is no pretty boy. He strikes me as an intense menacing dude.

Berto comes out swinging, and knocks Forbes back quickly. Forbes with a series of blocked left hooks. Forbes is winging shots, but not finding home base too much. Berto with a nice shot. Forbes takes a hard left hook, but it’s not quite on target.

The hand speed difference is very apparent, and Stevie isn’t slow.

Steward describes Berto as “a very explosive fighter who explodes.” Right on, Manny.

Forbes with a right, Berto answers with a body blow and a left hook, but missing. Neither guy is landing much so far, but they’re both fighting.

What the fuck is the referee doing? “Punch and come out! Punch and come out! Punch and come out! …(stutter step)…(stutter step)…BREAK.”

Berto with the right uppercut, right on point. Decent first round.

Berto 10-9, but pretty close

lol @ Mayweather saying Berto is tired after one round

Floyd Sr. thinks Berto is tired. Floyd Sr., probably high.

I’ll tell you, Forbes is looking really sharp. He’s doing a good job in there combating Berto’s quicker hands. Berto lets his hands go, and Forbes obliges! Nobody’s landing a whole lot clean, but they’re both willing to fight. I’m just enjoying watching these guys box right now.

Berto tries to close the round strong, but Forbes uses his defense to gobble it up. Good round.

Forbes 10-9
19-19

Forbes holds his poise. Good Round for Stevie, who wins it on power punches.

one round each on my card

Berto shoots a hard right, Forbes slips it. That’s been what he’s done exceptionally well thus far. Plus, he’s just hitting Berto almost every opportunity he has. Like there, he does it again. Berto backs Forbes into a corner, but Forbes covers up.

Berto looks wild and undisciplined in there, which is not really what I think of when I think of Andre Berto. Vicious left to the body from Berto, but right now this is another good round for Stevie Forbes.

Andre’s getting mean though.

STOP BOXIN’ is the referee’s favorite thing to say.

Tough round to score. Andre was really aggressive, but the first half or so felt like a Forbes round. He did take some good shots in the latter half.

Forbes 10-9
Forbes 29-28

“STOP BOXIN, BREAK CLEAN, LETHIMGO LETHIMGO, GET OUTTA THERE”

Berto is landing more punches this round, because he is getting off first.

Hear me: this will be the pattern here on out. It will not be Berto’s handspeed so much as his fast-thinking initiative that will win him this fight. By points.

Berto will get off the first punch.

Berto’s upset in his corner.

and I gave that round to Berto.

round for Berto. He is looking really aggessive. Good corner advice too. Berto will get off the first punch.

Berto takes the round for Hurrld and Matt.

Berto opens up with nice inside work, and Forbes does his best to cover up first and fire back second. Which probably won’t impress many judges. Berto is REALLY fighting aggressively now. Tyson aggressive.

Berto fights like a much more experienced man, really. Always has as far as I’ve ever seen. He never lets up. And his defense looks good tonight, better than ever before I think.

Good round for Berto, and Forbes might be starting to really feel some of these power punches. Not a lot are landing super clean, but the ones that are are rifle shots.

Berto 10-9
38-38

Maybe I’m being too nit-picky, but I see a difference between “hand speed” and what I call “initiative.” Yes, Berto is fast, but more than that, he always starts throwing first. A gifted fighter.

I think we might see Andre stop Forbes at this pace. Forbes is getting lit up.

And there goes Berto again, throwing punches in bunches, keeping Forbes off-balance. There’s the uppercut, and there’s one from the other hand! Forbes, God bless him, is battling with all he’s worth and not taking a backward step. He’s doing everything he can to win this fight, but I don’t think he’s dynamic enough. And he’s certainly not going to discourage Berto.

Manny points out that it’s Berto initializing the clinches, which I don’t think is a sign of fatigue more than a sign of Berto being smart. He’s not going to wing haymakers all night.

Berto 10-9
Berto 48-47

Like Calzaghe, Berto seems to have mastered the art of the offensive clinch. The quick clinch that sets off a flurry of punches, capitalizing on initiative and hand speed.

Berto with a clean left hand shot that gets through. Forbes tries to lead with the right, grazes Berto. Berto with a lot of punches, all of them blocked besides the left hook finishing shot that Forbes mostly slips. So nothing of scoring note there.

Berto is simply scoring MORE than Forbes. It’s not a beatdown, but it’s getting sort of one-sided. The rounds are developing at a predictable pace, with Forbes doing his best but his best not being good enough. Berto has too much natural skill and Forbes doesn’t hit hard enough to make Berto make stupid mistakes. Still, this is entertaining, and a lot of that is due to Forbes being willing to mix it up.

Berto 10-9
Berto 58-56

What the fuck is the ref doing in round 7?

This ref sucks ass.

Forbes tries to unload, nothing sticks. Forbes falls short on a right, and Berto comes back with a couple of quick shots. I do think Berto is falling into that trap of admiring his own punches, which has been a knock on him and the one he’s not debunking so far tonight, I don’t think. His defense has looked much better than before, and that’s the bigger issue.

Berto with a BIG right hand, and then an BIG uppercut comes in too. The referee interrupts when Berto slips. Why? That was Berto’s problem to deal with, not yours to save him from. The refereeing has been bad, but the fight has featured mostly action so he hasn’t gotten a chance to plain screw it up. He did rule the cut wrong, though. Thankfully Berto is making this a no-contest, slowly but surely.

Berto 10-9
Berto 68-65

HBO unofficial scale has him at 170 pounds tonight, though, so that’s not so great. We’ll see.

I got Berto up 68-65

I have a clean angle on the fight but even this angle does me wrong in certain areas. It feels like Berto is landing a lot of clean punches but Forbes doesn’t react the way you would think someone would considering the severity of the shots.

I love Berto grabbing and not falling in love with temptation to go nuts.

I saw Andre arguing after the 3rd. If anyone knows what the ref ruled, please let me know.

One cannot help but think of Berto’s only knowckdown against Rivera.

He seems to be also getting hit with pretty hard shots.

I’m frightened he might run into a similar kinda flash knockout

WHAM, uppercut, and Steve Forbes’ mouthpiece goes FLYING. That’s a little over a minute left into the round. And the referee fails to replace the mouthpiece during a break, until someone points it out to him. He’s horrible. Absolutely horrible.

Larry claims to never remember a Dr. calling a fight (uh, Lou Moret, Larry?) and Manny says the referee is doing a good job. Jesus Christ times two.

Berto looks totally confident that he’s winning this fight. Forbes is not fighting badly at all, he’s just not good enough. I agree he’s a super dude, but let’s not go crazy about Forbes’ talent level.

Berto 10-9
Berto 78-74

Sometime his fights looks like video games, like that mouthpiece flying shot.

Uppercuts are the real weapon for Berto again this round, and he’s not doing a whole lot else clean anymore. He’s more looking to preserve himself this round, I think. He does open up there. I should say that shit every time I want more action.

Tighter round, but Forbes didn’t completely take advantage of Berto laying back a little.

Berto 10-9
Berto 88-83

Berto is not a good match for Cotto or Williams.

Stiff left hooks from Berto, backing Forbes into the ropes, and Forbes covers up. Berto’s not going to put Stevie down. He’s too smart to get knocked down more than anything. Good chin, yes, but an even better ability of avoiding the bad spots that hurt fighters.

More of the same.

Berto 10-9
Berto 98-92

So does this count as Berto being better than Oscar against Forbes? Lampley thinks it’s about the same. I’d say the same thing.

Again, God bless Steve Forbes, he’s doing all he can. He’s doing a good job. And you can’t say he didn’t show up to fight.

They’re talking about Forbes saying he’d retire if he lost the fight tonight. I wish he’d try to make 140 and challenge someone there. 135 is too loaded and he probably can’t make that weight anymore anyway. But Forbes ends the round with a couple nice shots. Hell of a guy, tougher than shit.

Berto 10-9
Berto 108-101

has really impressed me this fight.

Why is Merchant comparing Berto to RJJ at this stage in Berto’s career?

Hurrld gave the last round to Forbes. Eh.

Berto backs Forbes up with a series of shots, but Stevie immediately covers up and Andre doesn’t chase him down trying for the KO, heeding his corner’s advice to not “go to war.”

They’re talking about Berto adding swimming to his training for this fight, which reminds me of Eddie Chambers’ dad after the Povetkin loss: “Fuck the swimmin’, fuck the basketball…”

Berto wins another round, and wins this fight.

Berto 10-9
Berto 118-110

With his ability to take such vicious shots without going down.

With that said, I have Andre winning easily 118-110

118-109
118-109
116-111

ANDRE BERTO VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION
RETAINS WBC WELTERWEIGHT TITLE

Nothing shocking, though I do wonder what round was scored 10-8 Berto on these cards.

And here’s a fall HBO boxing preview, which features nary a single FotY candidate kind of matchup, instead relying heavily on aging stars (Hopkins, Jones, Calzaghe, Oscar, Hatton). Plus I genuinely see Taylor-Lacy as a mismatch. Lacy’s a turd.

He’s pretty much right. I mean really.

regarding Sugar Shane: “you must pay attention [if you care about boxing].” Or something like that.

Wonder what tonight’s will be?

[/fanboy]

1. Ricardo Mayorga has never consistently smoked three packs a day. This is bullshit press pandering because writers can get a whole story out of him smoking a lot. I guarantee it.

2. Ricardo Mayorga does not “dearly love” alcohol. This is more press bullshit.

“Mayorga is an easy target for anyone with precise boxing skills.”

I really love this matchup. They are exact opposites in every way.

“‘Strategy’ and ‘Mayorga’ don’t belong in the same book, much less the same sentence.”

Here we go.

Mayorga comes out with a haymaker. Gotta love him. Mayorga with a short right. Overhand right misses badly. All he’s doing is chopping with the right hand, as Mosley tries to stick the jab to the body. Another overhand swing from Mayorga, and Shane responds with one of his own. I think Shane has a genuine lack of respect for Mayorga. He looked pissed there.

Mayorga sneaks a left to the body in, but eats a short shot in doing so. Mayorga BRAWLING on the inside, warned for a shot to the back of the head. Mosley seriously looks annoyed.

HARD right from Shane Mosley, and Mayorga is hurt. Mosley holds and hits Mayorga in the back. Oh man. This is getting mean early. This looks like a barroom brawl.

Mosley misses a wild right. Mayorga with a big right hand, and Shane tries to counter right back on him. This is a lot of fun already.

Mayorga doing his machismo posing as the round ends. Yeah, this is gonna be a fuckin’ hoot. Mayorga’s saluting the crowd already.

Mosley 10-9

Hurrld gave the first to Mayorga. That’s one I’ll genuinely question.

Mosley with a right, not as clean as the great 1-2 he landed in the first. Mayorga complains of an accidental headbutt, or a straight up headbutt, as he probably claimed.

Mayorga, I’ll say this, has gotten Shane to fight his fight. And Mosley’s not doing shit this round. I don’t get Shane’s ideas here. Just feeling Ricardo out? Seeing all he has to offer? Mayorga isn’t totally showing his hand, either. Or maybe he is.

Mayorga with a lead right, then fires a left hook that misses. Shane does nothing in return, then eats a right hand. Left hook Mosley, Mayorga lands a right in response.

Mayorga 10-9
19-19

Mayorga might have eaked out the last one. tie.

Mosley landed 3 punches last round, Mayorga 4.

Ricardo refuses to let Shane clinch up, brawling him off. Lampley calls it a “combination tackle and left hook.” Mosley’s being way too cautious if you ask me. This is a guy he should dismantle. Ricardo’s making a lot of noise about headbutts.

Ricardo with three chopping rights, nothing big but they do land. Shane with a short right after a long one misses. Mayorga storms with a wild right, misses, and now he tries to bodyslam Mosley. This is just a sloppy mess now. The first two minutes were a lot of fun, but this has really fallen apart. There is no boxing going on, period, and there’s not much compelling brawling either. Mayorga seems like he’s dictating pace, and with so little landing, that means something.

Mayorga 10-9
Mayorga 29-28

Mayorga is looking winded between rounds. He’s 12/133 so far, with Mosley at 16/80. Nobody’s landing anything.

Mosley with a 1-2, and that had Mayorga making a face. And back to them just coming together and needing to break. Mayorga with a bull rush, nothing big comes of it. Mayorga with a lazy flurry. Lampley calls a double left hook by Mosley, but they really didn’t do shit. BIG right from Mosley, and that one did shit.

Mayorga is now looking more like the guy that just isn’t good enough. His handlers are coming to get him mid-ring, spritzing him with water. He’s not in shape, and he’s wind punching himself out.

Mosley 10-9
38-38

Mayorga looks shitty tired.

Through four rounds, Mayorga is 0/10 with his jab.

Mosley wings a left hook and fans. If Shane would press he’d be able to win this pretty quickly, I think. But he’s respectful of Mayorga, who has no gas left. Mosley lands a left hook, then a BIG right hand. Mayorga’s getting punked out now.

Mayorga tries to challenge Shane in the center of the ring, but Shane doesn’t oblige. He’s beating Ricardo up now. Mayorga stumbles on a right hand. This is turning into a mismatch, as it was supposed to be. Mayorga whines some more. He’s setting up his excuses.

Left hook to the body from Mosley after one from Mayorga does land. They end the round jawing.

Mosley 10-9
Mosley 48-47

booya!

Mosley: 39/139
Mayorga: 20/213

Seems about right.

Mosley’s corner thinks it’s round seven. That’s typical Jack Mosley.

Mosley with the lead right, and now they trade again in the center. Jin stands up. I really do like her. She genuinely gives a shit and loves boxing.

HARD right from Mosley, and Mayorga is hurt there. Mayorga looks really bad at this poinit. Mosley seems to hit him at will. Mayorga lands a lazy right, and now Ricardo’s whining about a head clash again. He will not shut up about this stuff. He’s being a baby. As Manny Steward says, the bullies are the first guys to complain when it gets rough.

Mosley OPENS UP on Mayorga, and he’s just wailing away. Mayorga’s trying to macho up, but it’s not doing anything for him. Mosley is peppering him with shot after shot, Mayorga leaving himself wide open, his usual gimmick. Yeah, hit me! OK?

Left hook from Mosley. Another. Shot to the body. Right hand lands. This is domination.

Mayorga has nothing left. Mosley is just kicking the shit out of him. Mayorga tries to land some rights, and does nothing. Mayorga is pooped.

Mosley 10-8, easy, easy round
Mosley 58-55

Mayorga is so much fun in defeat. props to him for that.

Manny thinks Mayorga “seems to be in great condition.” Come on.

Not as many fireworks this round. Shane’s slowed it down, I think he knows that Mayorga is too big to knock down easily so he’s letting off the gas pedal some. He’s still catching Mayorga a little bit, and Mayorga still fails to land. Lead right from Mayorga, and all things considered, a pretty good bounce-back round off of that sixth round demolition.

Jack Mosley: “Throw some jabs, then the hard right hand. Knock his ass out.”

Mosley 10-9
Mosley 68-64

Mosley with a short left hook that stings Mayorga coming in. Jim: “It hasn’t been pretty.” No shit.

Mayorga clinching a ton. Right from Mayorga. Shane, honestly, has slowed way down since the sixth. He’s not jabbing at all, despite the insistence that he do so from his corner.

This round has been utter shit, and both guys are to blame. Honestly Mayorga probably landed better shots this round.

Mayorga 10-9
Mosley 77-74

“You can’t conduct a symphony when there’s a rap concert going on around you.”

Oops I just killed myself.

Jack Mosley: “Don’t wrassle with him!”

OH! About a minute in and Mosley accidentally drills Mayorga way too close to the nuts for any man’s liking.

Mayorga has goaded Shane into his fight again, which is lots of noise. Much ado about nothing sort of fighting. In these rounds, Mayorga’s activity makes him look good, because Shane’s doing NOTHING.

“Good” left hook from Mosley, according to Jim. “Sharp and precise” he called it. I saw a big lazy left hook that happened to hit Mayorga because Mayorga was punching already. It had no pop. “Sharp” is among the last things I’d call it.

Another fugly round, really. Not as bad as the 8th. Mayorga with a nice right. Goofy round to score, but I think Mayorga eked it out again.

If nothing else, this is proving that Shane Mosley is not Shane Mosley at 154 pounds. I mean we knew that already, but the 154-pound Mosley doesn’t touch even the 147-pound Mosley.

Mayorga 10-9
Mosley 86-84

Hurrld has it 87-84 for Mosley.

Shane looks nearly as tired as Mayorga. He’s not working the body, not jabbing. He should have ended Mayorga by now. He hasn’t. That’s a problem. Shane jumps to southpaw and I have no idea why. It didn’t go well.

Maybe I’m being overly critical or not giving Mayorga’s awkward style enough credit, but this is not the performance Shane Mosley needed.

Mayorga with a thudding right, but thud was about all it did. Mayorga with a right. Mosley’s done better this round than the last two, though. I still think this is sloppy by both guys, just that Mayorga is naturally sloppy and Shane is not.

Nice right from Shane, and Mayorga actually BLOCKS one after. Unreal. Mosley gets tripped up as Mayorga continues dancing and flailing. This is a war of attrition more than anything else.

Mosley 10-9
Mosley 96-93

Jack Mosley is 100% on HIS game tonight, I’ll tell you that. “You gotta say, ‘Naw you ain’t gonna dog me out, I’m doggin’ YO’ ass out.’”

Mayorga eats a few hard rights and a nice left hook. Mayorga is trying his best to find a knockout shot, but I don’t think he’s going to find one or even come close to it.

Uppercut from Mayorga does just barely miss as Lampley wonders how Mayorga can think Oscar is better than Mosley if Mayorga thinks Oscar lost twice to Mosley. I don’t know, I’ll rank Mosley over Forrest every day, and Forrest over Mayorga. It happens, Jim. Jeez.

VICIOUS right hand from Mosley. AND ANOTHER! Mayorga is a tough bastard. As a fight fan first, I’d LOVE to see Margarito-Mayorga. I really would.

Lampley: “Nobody celebrates impending defeat like Ricardo Mayorga.”

Mosley 10-9
Mosley 106-102

his senseless cheering and incessant holding.

Didn’t think we’d see a 12th round, but I also didn’t think we’d see 8, 9, 10 or 11.

This round is more of the same, Mayorga charging and doing nothing, Mosley playing it overly safe, not giving us much to be entertained by. Mosley with another big right, and that could seal another round. That one hurt Mayorga. Mosley with a big left hook. ANOTHER right. Yeah he’s taking another round. He’s fighting in a burst, and doing it well. He’s got the crowd up now.

Mosley is busting Mayorga the fuck up now. Mayorga’s hurt and he’s DOWN after a flurry!

Let him finish. There’s five seconds.

MOSLEY STICKS MAYORGA WITH A LEFT HAND RIGHT AT THE BELL

Larry: “Shane Mosley — I LOVE you.”

Shane Mosley KO-12

Wow. Talk about a finish.

nice finish

Larry Merchant; “Shane Mosley, I love you!”

I also like his son’s cap.

It was not a tour de force, but Mosley certainly did not disappoint. Sugar Shane, thanks again. You rock!

That fight has no credibility.

Come on.

Angulo-Tsurkan could be a fucking war.

I don’t like to brag.

But seriously . . . ONE HELL OF A FUCKING NIGHT!

Summing it all up with this . .

With just a tad bit more defense, Berto could rule the welterweight division in a couple more years. He has truly established himself as a prime candidate for the future p4p king. God how I love this muthafucka.

Mosley on the other hand is clearly on the downside of his career. I thought the Cotto fight showed Shane at his best even while losing, but going the distance with someone like Mayorga is absolutely not a good outing no matter how good of a fight it was.

With that said . . . God, what a fucking fight.

Something about last second KO’s.

Vasquez did it better though.