The Names
Oscar De La Hoya (31-1, 26 KOs) versus Shane Mosley (34-0, 32 KOs) for the WBC Welterweight Championship
The Set Up
Oscar De La Hoya was the biggest star in the sport. In the post Tyson world, he was who rose up to catch the attention of mainstream America. He had largely earned it in the ring too. By this point he had already won and defended titles at 130, 135, 140, and 147 where this fight takes place. He had defeated name fighters such as 31-1-2 Jesse James Leija, 32-0-1 Genaro Hernandez, 96-1-1 Julio Cesar Chavez (twice), 27-2 Wilfredo Rivera, 63-3-1 Hector Camacho, 40-1-1 Pernell Whitaker, and 34-0-1 Ike Quartey. These guys were varying levels of in their prime, but they all either were or had very recently been elite.
In the case of Whitaker and Quartey, those were highly competitive fights with some arguing they should have went the other way. Neither was a robbery.
De La Hoya’s fight with Felix “Tito” Trinidad was a different story. With Tito a big star in his own right, De La Hoya/Trinidad was as hyped as a pending fight can be. What resulted, however, was a bit of a dud where De La Hoya seemed to outbox the powerful Puerto Rican for eight rounds. Then, assured of his victory in his own mind, he got on his bike and chose to play it safe rather than try to win the last four rounds. The judges saw differently. With some controversy, they gave the fight to Tito. Opinions still differ on that fight.
Unable to secure a rematch with Trinidad, De La Hoya, a man who always fought everyone, turned to the next biggest challenge he could find: “Sugar” Shane Mosley.
Shane Mosley was an absolutely dominant lightweight. A freak, fast twitch style athlete with serious punching power, no one at 135 lbs could stand against him. He won the IBF belt in 1997 in a competitively scored fight against 31-0 Phillip Holiday in what was Holiday’s seventh defense. In seven defenses of his own, no one as much as made the final bell against Mosley; he stopped them all. Holiday was one of only two lightweights in in thirty one fights with Mosley who had.
Despite his status as one of the all-time great Lightweights, Mosley did not find the mainstream crossover appeal that De La Hoya had. Few boxers ever do. He didn’t have the Olympic Gold Medal, the story of fulfilling a wish to a dying mother, the big name opponents to face, or, well, that face. Looking for some of that magic, after thirty one near flawless fights at Lightweight, Shane Mosley jumped twelve pounds and two weight classes up to the Welterweight limit of 147 lbs. Prior to the De La Hoya bout, Sugar Shane had only two fights at the weight.
The Fight
The first thing you notice is the atmosphere. The Staples Center, home ring advantage for De La Hoya in Los Angeles, was roaring from the opening bell. Chants of Oscar, Oscar fill the air.
The fans had already been treated to elite level boxing that night. The undercard featured legends in the making Diego “Chico” Corrales and “El Terrible” himself, Erik Morales. Hell, even Butterbean opened the show. Great undercards, where have you gone?
Now they have a fight between the number four and five pound for pound fighters in the world according to Ring Magazine.
There is the opening bell “Sugar” Shane comes out fast. He opens up dramatically right away. De La Hoya swings back over a giant Budweiser logo. The King of PPV standing on the King of Beers. The speed of Mosley is confusing. Lightning quick straight rights, jabs that reach an impossible distance from the noticeably smaller man. Sugar Shane rips frankly sloppy lead rights to the body that you can only get away with if you’re The Flash, or in this case, Shane Mosley. Can’t counter it if it is too fast to see. Even though the crowd’s hero is clearly beaten in the first round, the atmosphere doesn’t relent.
In the second round they are rewarded for their enthusiasm. As much as Mosley dominated the opening frame, De La Hoya equaled him in the second. The Golden Boy of boxing spends three minutes digging vicious left hooks to the midsection of his challenger. This slows Mosley just enough for De La Hoya to control him.
The HBO team of Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, and George Foreman are being treated at ringside by the beginnings of a classic. Foreman, the former two time Heavyweight Champion, believes that Oscar’s best chance is behind his jab.
He uses it in round three, but the fight is close. Mosley recovered some of his speed that had been sapped by the bountiful body blows of the previous frame, but De La Hoya keeps digging them. They both find straight rights to the head. The round is razor thin and it feels like maybe Oscar won it, and then Compubox stats come up on the screen and have him out tallying Mosley in a landslide.
Round four is much the same. De La Hoya cannot find his huge left hook upstairs, but he digs it to the body. He jabs with it. Though never his power punch, he does good work with straight rights early in this fight. Mosley still lands a few lightning quick rights, and maybe he is quietly starting to win the jabbing contest, but with De La Hoya taking three straight it starts to feel like maybe two weight classes too many for the unbeaten, and largely unchallenged, Shane Mosley.
Round five is an act of re-stabilization. After Oscar comes out to reassert himself as the stronger jabber, Mosley sneaks in a giant uppercut. De La Hoya takes it fine, but is the biggest punch of the fight. Mosley works basic one twos and continues to out jab the man who was supposed to out jab him. A big left hook from De La Hoya late catches the eye of the HBO announcers and they talk as if their golden goose had won the round again, but he hadn’t.
It starts to become frustrating to listen to them, actually. They harp on Oscar’s jab and largely ignore that he is losing that battle. They talk about a big power advantage, and though that would make some logical sense, there has been no evidence through six rounds. Despite this, in the sixth they fight a very, very close round that De La Hoya may have just edged on some straight rights. He might be up 4-2.
Mosley responds in the seventh. Early he slips and rips beautifully with a straight right. He starts to come forward more and ups his aggression. The jab is really working again and he follows it with a sneaky, strong left hook. Oscar responds by digging the body hard again, but after some great shots he gets countered over the top with a massive right hand. Again, he takes it. Mosley plays with fire in the final seconds trading left hooks, but his is faster and the one to land. Good Mosley round.
The announce team begins to change their narrative. Mosley’s speed is too much. Oscar continues to try to slow him down with body shots, and maybe it works. Mosley turns southpaw for extended time, but he doesn’t do much there. Oscar gets to strengthen his lead due to this. Almost all rounds have been close, but they have also all had a pretty clear winner. This one goes to De La Hoya.
Interestingly, going into the ninth, Jack Mosley, father and trainer of Shane Mosley, tells his fighter and son that there are only three rounds left. There are four. What he does tell his son correctly, however, is to jab, move, and box. He senses a KO isn’t coming. This is somewhat of an alien concept to Shane, but he listens to great impact. He moves and Oscar can’t find him. He jabs and Oscar is momentarily stopped in his tracks. One jab takes out De La Hoya’s mouthpiece, another draws a trickle of blood from his nose. Big right hands start to follow jabs, a notable left hook right before the bell. Suddenly Oscar is lost.
The tenth and the eleventh are largely the same. Oscar lands body work here and there, sneaks in a straight right or two a round, but the story is Mosley’s movement, jab, and what he follows those with. Which is whatever he wants to. He can’t seem to hurt his larger opponent with shots that put Lightweights to sleep, but he can continue to tag him and he does. With three straight rounds in the bank, I now him up 6-5 going into the twelfth and final round.
And what a final round it is. Oscar gets confusing corner advice telling him both to go for it and be careful. He and Mosley both choose to throw caution to the wind. Arms are flying every which way. Not a lot lands because they are too wild for about a minute, but the action is intense. Two elite warriors swinging with all they have. Then the “Sugar” sweet rights start landing for Mosley. One, than another, and a massive one that has everyone screaming. De La Hoya clearly feels a shot for the first time, but he tries to throw back. Mosley just keeps whacking him. One more at the final bell. Sugar Shane out lands The Golden Boy 45-18 in the final frame. It is a wipe out.
HBO’s Harold Lederman has it 116-112 Mosley, I have it 115-113 for him. The scores come quickly. It is a split decision and Shane Mosley has done it. Oscar smiles disbelievingly. He believes he is robbed again. He probably wasn’t either time, and certainly not this time. The hometown crowd doesn’t help his delusion by booing the decision wrongly.
To the media in the following days the 27 year old De La Hoya talks about retirement, so frustrated with these decisions going against him. He doesn’t. Mosley, if unable to have a big money rematch, talks about avenging his amateur defeat to top welterweight contender Vernon Forrest. He tries, but that is a different story.
They do fight again and perhaps that will be a future Classic Fight Review.
Final Verdict
Two all-time greats. A fight with ebs and flows, back and forth. An elevated performance down the stretch punctuated by an underdog closing emphatically. On its own when viewed strictly as a fight, this is a tier down from the Gatti/Wards, Castillo/Corrales in the hall of all-time great fights. Those fights, however, did not have this atmosphere, or these stakes, or this big of a stage. De La Hoya/Mosley I is a classic fight that any true fight fan must watch at least once. You might find yourself coming back to it again later as the excitement in that building is still palpable seventeen years after the fact.
A must watch.
