25.04.05 – By Jim Amato: With the results in from last Saturday night’s exciting ESPN-PPV card, we can now look forward with much anticipation to some possible future match ups. How about Antonio Margarito defending his WBO crown against the respected former champion Shane Mosley ? Margarito was surprisingly awesome against Kermit Cintron scoring a decisive fifth round kayo. Mosley looked fairly sharp in his return to the welterweight class as he outpointed the formidable David Estrada.
Rumor has it that if Zab Judah wins his upcoming defense against Cosme Rivera he will meet Oscar De La Hoya on September 17th. If Margarito and Mosley square off, let the winner meet Zab or Oscar. Who ever wins that match. Right there you are looking at three potentially great matches.
Antonio appears to be at the top of his game but he has never met anyone with Sugar Shane’s hand speed. It took Shane a few rounds against Estrada but once he warmed up he looked pretty sharp.
Can Shane take Margarito’s power ? Mosley’s chin has been dented by Vernon Forrest and he was rocked a few times by Winky Wright. He did hold up well in his two battles with De La Hoya. Overall Shane has a solid chin. Plus if boxes the way he should he will not be an easy target. You can’t hurt what you can’t hit.
Mosley’s jab may be able to keep Margarito off balance and keep him from getting the proper leverage on his power shots. Also Shane needs to mix his attack and land those thudding shots to Margarito’s body. Shane needs to stay outside of Margarito’s reach or be inside Antonio’s arms reducing the risk of being nailed by a big punch. Basically he needs to move in and out and side to side giving Margarito lots of angles and never letting him get set.
I think Shane has what it takes to beat Margarito but Antonio keeps surprising me.He seems to get better and better with each fight. I think this would be a great bout.