I scored the fight for Mosley, as did everyone on the HBO broadcast team commentating on the bout. How one judge gave it to Mora and another scored it a draw was hard to comprehend, but that's just what happened: One judge scored it for Mosley 116-112, one for Mora 115-113, and one a 114-114 draw.
Both boxers were tentative in the early going, but Mora more so; Mora basically just backed away from Mosley for the first couple rounds. By the end of the third round the crowd was booing a lack of much energy from either fighter.
Shane Mosley fought Sergio Mora for 12 mostly uneventful rounds Saturday night in Los Angeles, and the judges ruled the fight a draw, leaving some fans booing and some fans yawning, but very few cheering.The fourth round featured a little more action and also featured a clash of heads that left Mora with a cut over his right eye. But that didn't seem to light any kind of fire under Mora, who continued in the fifth round to box passively and wait for Mosley to bring the fight to him. HBO announcer Jim Lampley ripped Mora's performance during the fifth round.
"This is pathetic," Lampley said. "This is a pathetic performance in a big-opportunity fight by Sergio Mora. ... If Mora's performance was embarrassing before now, I think it was even worse in this round."
The next couple of rounds featured a little more action, but not a lot: It was still a cautious, tactical, tentative and boring bout, and the fans continued to seem restless and uninterested.
In the late rounds Mora did start to seem more active, as his corner warning him that he was losing the fight appeared to motivate him to go on the offensive. But it was Mosley who was pressing the action, doing more damage with his hands and controlling the fight. Mosley deserved to win.
Instead we got a draw, which Lampley referred to as "atrocious," "a joke," "a travesty" and "an injustice."
Lampley was right. This was a bad deal for Mosley, and a bad deal for boxing.
by Michael David Smith | fanhouse.com
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