A few fights this year have inspired awe and will take some beating. Juan Manuel Marquez staked his pound-for-pound claims with a perfect performance over 'The Baby Bull' Juan Diaz - ten years his junior. Ever the ring technician, Marquez took a few rounds to get used to Diaz's pressure, before carefully dissecting him with precise, measured counter-punching and crucially, banking the body shots. Most boxers would have wilted under Diaz's non-stop assault that night, his performance was close to perfect, he just fought the better boxer and the same result would happen every time. Considering the 35-year-old Marquez handed Joel Casamayor his first stoppage defeat last September, he really is the man to beat in the lightweight division.

But the stand-out performance for me is 37-year-old Shane Mosely's brutal annihilation of the seemingly unstoppable freight train, Antonio Margarito. Let's put this in context. Shane Mosely is supposed to be approaching the twighlight of his long, illustrious career. He earned world titles in three weight divisions, beating Oscar De La Hoya twice in the process and was only beaten by two men, Winky Wright and Vernon Forrest before meeting the man-of-the moment Miguel Cotto and just falling short.Then he struggled to contain the wild puncher Ricardo Mayorga at light-middleweight, in a fight which could have gone either way before his KO in the dying seconds of the 12th.

He always maintained he still felt good. What he did to Antonio Margarito will go down in history as the moment the man who takes your heart, had his heart taken for the first time. Hand wraps aside, Margarito was fresh off a stunning KO of Miguel Cotto, who had looked unbreakable in his welterweight reign. Cotto won the first six rounds for me, boxing beautifully off the ropes, counter-punching the Mexican and making him look foolish with his inferior speed and timing. But the fight turned in the seventh as Cotto's game plan started to look fallible. He could not suppress Margarito's desire no matter how many clean, hard shots he landed. Margarito did not have any artificial wraps on his chin, he simply took every punch Cotto threw without flinching. And as he began to dig at Cotto's ribs, the pendulum swung towards the Mexican and a battered Cotto had nothing left in the 11th.

It was established here that you can't run from Antonio Margarito, because he will take your punches, cut off the ring and punish you eventually. The Mexican is so confident in his chin, he walks through punches gleefully just to show he can take them and pin you against the ropes. He owns the trenches and his favourite game is to hunt you down before dragging you into his lair - a terrible place.

Until he fought Mosely. He can't have expected what 'Sugar' was going to bring at his age. Mosely went out in the first round to take Margarito's heart - he went for broke - meeting him head on. He used his fast, heavy hands to great effect, landing a multitude of bombs early on to gain Margarito's respect. He did just that. Margarito smiled after having his head constantly snapped back by the power of Mosely's right hand, which landed all night. The smile became a regular occurence, an acknowledgement that he had felt the punch. The smile died down eventually. Mosely won every round on route to his 9th round TKO, using dazzling combinations, pummeling a befuddled Margarito, who was totally out of his depth and knew it. He was unable to execute his usual game because every time he came forward he ate Mosely's fists. The dynamite in Mosley's hands was perhaps underestimated by the over-confident Mexican, who did not use anywhere near enough head movement or defence to protect himself.

It was Mosely's finest performance. He threw caution to the wind, took the heart of the Mexican warrior and showed more than ever that he can trade with the best. Sugar is the dominant welterweight force, with nothing to prove, but perhaps if Andre Berto gets past Juan Urango, Mosely could find the motivation to take away his 0.