Boxing Preview: Shane Mosley – Fernando Vargas

On the same night as the eagerly awaited British Heavyweight showdown between Danny Williams and Matt Skelton, another big fight takes place on the other side of the pond. In an eliminator for the 154 pound crown, Shane Mosley meets Fernando Vargas in a battle between two men who many claim have seen better days, on a Top Rank bill at the Mandalay

Bay Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 25th. Mosley is a three weight world champion in divisions spanning nineteen pounds. A champion first at lightweight in 1997, he dominated the division making eight defences before doing a Roberto Duran and jumping straight to the 147 pound welterweight division.

On June 17, 2000, Mosley met Oscar De La Hoya in a fight billed as Leonard v Duran for the new millennium. The hype for the pairing was certainly justified as it was one of the fights of that year, with Mosley taking the WBC crown from the Golden Boy on a twelve round split decision.

Since then, Mosley’s career has, in my opinion, been inconsistent. After three defences, he lost the crown to Vernon Forrest in 2002, a fight in which he was badly shaken more than once. Forrest then repeated the win six months later in a closer fight that also went to points.

Mosley, never the quitter, decided that the next step would be to move up to the 154 pound division and after one unimpressive comeback fight, he was again matched against old rival Oscar De La Hoya.

The fight, held in Las Vegas on 13 September 2003, in my opinion was not a patch on their first encounter. Although Mosley worked well to the body, many felt he was fortunate to pick up the unanimous decision. Since then he has won two and lost two. He has lost twice to Winky Wright at light middle and has won twice back at welterweight.

In Fernando Vargas, Mosley meets another true light middleweight and a two time champion at 154 pounds who knows no fear.

Vargas, after fourteen consecutive wins, first won the light middleweight championship in 1998 against Yory Boy Campas. Successful defences followed against the likes of Raul Marquez, Winky Wright and Ike Quartey before “El Feroz” suffered a destructive defeat against Puerto Rican legend Felix Trinidad in December 2000. In that unification bout, Vargas showed great courage, surviving two first round knockdowns before being stopped in the 12th in one of the fights of the year.

Nine months later, Vargas picked himself up and won Trinidad’s vacated title before he ran into Oscar De La Hoya. Again he suffered a crushing defeat late, being stopped in the 11th. He has since won his last four fights and seems to have adopted a more thinking boxers approach rather than the ferocious style he once had.

What happens in Vegas on the 25th of February? Its a fascinating matchup; let’s try and break it down.

Common opponents of the two are Oscar De La Hoya, Raul Marquez and Winky Wright. Vargas was dispatched clinically by De La Hoya while Mosley has beaten the Golden Boy Twice. Marquez was stopped by Vargas and fought Mosley to a no contest. Winky Wright outscored Mosley twice and was outpointed by Vargas. So what does that tell us? Correct, absolutely nothing!

As ever, styles make fights. Even though Vargas outscored Wright, many thought he was fortunate. And while Mosley outscored De La Hoya in their rematch, many disagreed with the verdict. The Marquez fight tells us even less, due to his no contest with Mosley.

In breaking down this fight between Vargas and Mosley, its obvious that Vargas in naturally the bigger man. Although he has suffered two devastating defeats, he’s still the more consistent boxer. Mosley hasn’t knocked an opponent out since 2001. You could argue that the matches made haven’t favoured him either. Against Forrest and Wright, he was pitched against men who stylewise, had his number.

With all that taken into account, it’s still a pickem fight as far as I’m concerned. On current form I slightly favour Vargas for the reason that he’s naturally the bigger man and has won his last four. But this is really a fight that can go either way and if it went Mosley’s way I wouldn’t be surprised either!