Boxing Notebook: Vargas-Mosley II

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By Carlos Guzman
Inspin.com
Contributing Writer

“Sugar” Shane Mosley and “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas are set to clash this Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. WagerWeb.com lists Fernando Vargas +150, Shane Mosley -180. A lot of people still believe in the young lion from Oxnard Calif., Vargas, and for good reason. Although he was stopped in the first bout, the eye trouble is what lost it for Vargas.

According to CompuBox, during the first half of their original bout, Vargas landed only 21 percent of his power shots in the first four rounds. Consider that from Round 4-9 he actually doubled it to 43 percent, while Shane’s numbers dropped. From Round 4-7 Vargas outlanded Mosley 83-62 in total punches. As Vargas' eye swelled, these numbers reversed and Mosley outlanded Vargas 40-29 in total punches

Also, when Vargas arrived at training camp for the first fight he was 188 pounds. For this bout Vargas came in 13 pounds lighter. So losing the weight shouldn’t be the main concern in training camp this time around.

Bob Canobio of CompuBox had this to say:

“Mosley starts fast, builds up an early lead. Vargas then gets it into gear in the middle rounds, imposing his will on the tiring Mosley. The fight's up for grabs into the last round, with the equally fatigued Vargas squeezing out a majority decision win.”

Ron Borges of the Boston Globe made an interesting comparison:

“What may be, though, is Vargas' hunger to win this fight. He is now close to becoming a latter-day Thomas Hearns or Joe Frazier, valiant warriors who lost too many of their biggest matches.”

Jack Mosley, father of Shane, is back in the corner for this final clash at 154 pounds. He feels Mosley is just the better man:

"Shane could have done a lot better against Vargas," Jack said. "Right now, he's a least twice as good as he was then. I'm training him to do the same things he did when he was younger, and he still can do them. You will see it in the ring."

Shane Mosley has argued that Vargas' camp is sending the wrong signal by saying Vargas doesn’t have to make adjustments. I think Mosley makes a good point:

"They’re giving him false information by telling him he won the last fight. It’s not good to go into a fight thinking this way. That could be dangerous. His people are unqualified; he is being misled into thinking he doesn’t need to make adjustments for this fight."

There has been one change in Vargas' camp. Cutman Jacob Duran, who seemed to have trouble dealing with Fernando’s swollen eye, has been replaced by the acclaimed Miguel Diaz.

"Jacob Duran is a good cutman, but since things didn’t go too well that night, we felt some changes needed to be made. I don’t want the eye to be a problem this time. That is why we hired the experienced Miguel Diaz," confirmed Vargas.

The final verdict rests on the shoulders of these gladiators themselves. Many experts frown on seeing Jack Mosley in the corner again. Can Shane's father give him some tough love, or will he hide the truth if he’s falling behind? Does Vargas have what it takes to beat an A-level fighter? Will the eye explode again? Tune in this Saturday on HBO PPV to get the answer. The talk is over -- let’s get ready to rumble.

10 seconds

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