What if they had the ref from the 17th.

[SigmaMu]

I don't see how knowledgable people think Margarito not being able to throw a hundred or more punches a round doesn't change things... If Mosley doesn't clinch, Tony throws more punches, and then Mosley doesn't have the space.

I understand what you are saying, the clinching certainly cut down on the output, and honestly, I think that Shane being so much stronger in the clinch, backing Tony up to the ropes effected Tony mentally. The end result was a complete and total destruction.

But there were many times that Shane didn't clinch. He pushed off Tony to create space for himself to punch. He worked and the inside and punched his way out. When Tony was at a distance and coming forward, Shane did a great job controlling distance, slipping, rolling, and defending with his hands. Unlike many of Mosley's fights, he used his jab very effectively. Even without the clinch he was backing Tony up from time to time to disasterous result for Margarito. He was beating Tony to the punch everytime from the start.

So, it'll repeat what I said before and expand a little. Had the ref been stricker about clinching, the fight might not have been the lopsided total beatdown that it was, but Tony's output would have been decreased because he Shane would have still been the aggressor, still been making Tony miss, still strafing him from the outside. For example, Hopkins didn't kill Pavlik's output only with the clinch. He did it because he was so much faster and better technically that he was getting off first every time beating him up.

I honestly thought all Shane would do is clinch and just try to survive but circumstances such as " No more Jin & Juice Mosley" then the revelation of the plaster in Tony's wraps, just might have changed things for the old man Sugar 'Shane' Mosley. It was like ok, now I know why you were brutalizing other fighters but tonight, that ain't going to happen with out your loaded wraps I will own you and he came out and did just that. Shane did look great, fast, jabbing, moving, throwing bombs, changing the tempo of his speed and power shots... Mosley really mixed it all in very well. 'My favorite line has to be... "Knock the grease off of him!" Sho'nuff, the grease from his mullet was flying all over the place.