Shane Mosley – Fernando Vargas: Boxing Preview and Weights
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The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada was buzzing with more pre-weekend energy than usual on Friday in anticipation of Saturday’s rematch between two of this generation’s top boxers, Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas. The two Southern Californian based fighters looked ready to go and in tremendous shape on the scales with Vargas coming in at the junior middleweight limit of 154 pounds, and Mosley tipping the scales at 153 pounds.
Back in February of this year, the two warriors exceeded expectations with a heated battle in their initial encounter. The quicker Mosley jumped out to an early lead , before Vargas started to impose his size and strength in the mid rounds. Referee Joe Cortez was forced to stop the fight prematurely in the tenth round due to a grotesque swelling around Vargas’s left eye, giving Mosley the TKO victory.
Fight fans were left somewhat unsatisfied as neither fighter was clearly ahead at the time of the stoppage and all three judges (two favoring Mosley, one favoring Vargas) had only one point separating the two fighters. Vargas claimed the swelling was due to a few head clashes and no doubt, there were a few unintentional headbutts, but Mosley was also able frequently land his trademark right hand.
Both fighters are likely to leave it all in the ring tonight, put on a good show, and settle the score for their dedicated fans.
Golden Boy Promotions, Main Events, and HBO PPV, also put together an excellent undercard to the main event, with a couple of bouts having the potential to steal the show.
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Undefeated WBA lightweight champion Juan Diaz of Houston will defend his crown against Randy Suico of the Philippines. Both fighters tipped the scales at the lightweight limit of 135 pounds. The always improving 22 year old Diaz has shown versatility in his recent championship fights, able to box and slug it out as needed, depending on the opponent standing in front of him.
Diaz may be better suited to box with movement against Suico , who will bring a size advantage and knockout power to the ring. In his 24 victories, Suico has stopped 21 of his opponents inside the distance. His only 2 losses have been to crafty boxers, able to avoid Suico’s power punches. Though Suico hasn’t fought nearly the competition that Diaz has seen, he does bring an element of danger to keep Diaz on his toes.
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In another championship bout, Mexico’s Daniel Ponce De Leon will bring his knockout power to defend his WBO Super Bantamweight Title, against tough Thailander, Sod Looknongyangtoy. This fight will be a rematch of a grueling 12 rounder fought back in October of 2005. De Leon had to pick himself off the canvas in the second round and fight bravely to gut out the decison
against the counterpunching Looknongyangtoy, who thought he did enough to win the first fight. De Leon would like nothing more than to win decisively(preferably by knockout) and gain national exposure during his first opportunity on HBO Pay Per View television under a main boxing event.
The televised portion and main undercard bouts start at 6pm PST, with the main event, Mosley- Vargas, kicking off around 8pm, PST.