Quote Originally Posted by Taeth View Post
Why would he be the ring champ, when the guy right up there with him, beat him? I don't think Mosley as cemented his place atop the division until he beats the guy who beat him.
Two reasons:

1. The relative quality of the wins. Mosley lost a very close decision to Cotto; Cotto was brutally knocked out by Margarito, who was then KTFO by Mosley. That makes Mosley's case the most convincing out of the trio.

2. More importantly, the timeline of the wins also matters. Shane beat the man who beat the man; if you're talking about a title lineage it just doesn't matter that Shane previously lost to Cotto. Like Lampley talking about the heavyweights last night, when Frazier beat Ali, Foreman beat Frazier, and Ali beat Foreman; Ali was the champ.

Before the fight Margarito was number 1; he had just beaten the number 2 man (Cotto), and Mosley was number 3. That would seem to fit The Ring's policy for filling a vacant championship.

Maybe they were trying to avoid the appearance of bias because Shane is a GBP fighter? Otherwise I don't understand the decision.