15.03.04 – By Marc Abrams – An eagerly anticipated doubleheader from the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas took place this evening as the undisputed 154 pound world championship was captured by Ronald “Winky”Wright as he won a surprisingly easy unanimous decision victory over “Sugar”Shane Mosely. In the opener “Baby”Joe Mesi latterly and figuratively held on to a slim unanimous decision over former cruiserweight champ Vasilly Jirov.
From the opening bell, Wright took the fight to the favored Mosley, and controlled the fight with an assortment of body shots, lefts, and hard rights. In round 2, Wright established his piston jab to set up hooks to Mosely’s body. The 3rd round saw a flurry by both fighters to begin the stanza. Wright won the first 4 rounds using his whole arsenal of punches that confused Mosely as he sat on his stool before the 5th with a blank, unsure look on his face. Wright dominated 8 of the 1st 10 rounds mixing up his punches beautifully. Mosely tried to re create his victory of Oscar De La Hoya but banking on the St. Petersburg native to be worn out by the body assault. The difference this time is that Wright is a natural 154 pounder and De La Hoya was not, so the body punches did not take the same affect as Wright pretty much walked through them. The last 2 rounds were very uneventful as both fighters knew pretty much what the outcome would be. With Wright winning, Mosely’s proposed fall mega fight with the returning Felix Trinidad will not happen. Wright, who has been a great fighter that has just been under the radar for all these years had his star rise to the ceiling with simply dominating performance. Wrights raises his record to 47-3, and may have the inside track to that fight with Trinidad, but I believe we might see a rematch with Mosely(only because there is a rematch clause), or possibly a fight with Kassim Ouma.
The opener was maybe a case where a win is really a loss. Mesi was supposed to be showcased by beating a fighter in Jirov who was moving up in weight, and may still have been feeling the affects of last years grueling war with James Toney. Jirov won the 1st round by using little inside hooks to head, buckling Mesi. Mesi turned tide in round 2 by getting off with his right hand. He landed some hard, if not some huge rights hands and was easily controlling the fight. There were a couple times during the fight where Jirov looked to be out on his feet, but he was able to recoup from the punishment. Later in the fight, a cut opened up over Jirov’s right eye, caused by a Mesi butt. This was just one of the flagrant foulds that Mesi inflicted on Jirov and all without one penalty point being taken away from him by the referee.
In the 9th round, Mesi was still pushing Jirov back with some thudding right hands, when a quick 1-2 sent the Buffalo native, Mesi to the canvas at the end of the round. Round 10 Jirov smelled blood when 1 minute into the round an uppercut followed by a right hand sent Mesi down again. 50 seconds later a huge left sent Mesi down for a 3rd time in about 3 minutes. Mesi gamely got up and liiterly held on for dear life let alone his perfect record.
If not for the holding, Mesi would have been knocked out numerous times in round 10, as he was out on his feet. He had nothing left in the tank and there was no way that he could keep the powerful Russian off of him.
When the scores were announced, all 3 judges agreed that Mesi won the fight 94-93. The fight raised the questions about Mesi’s chin and for the 2nd consecutive fight, he badly faded down the stretch. If the last 2 fights were 12 round fights, he very easily would be looking at 2 losses. Mesi, was looking for a summer mega fight at Ralph Wilson Stadium against a big name opponent. That might have to wait another fight or 2 for Mesi to regain some confidence. He raised his record to 29-0(25) and Jirov falls to 33-2(29).