Mosley/Collazo: Some food for thought

shane mosley30.01.07 – By Zhenyu Li: Three-division world champion Sugar Shane Mosley will return to the welterweight division to face the former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo for the WBC interim welterweight world title on February 10.

Can the 35-year old veteran, faster and stronger, bring Collazo back to school? Or, will the 25-year old young lad, both slicker and craftier, be able to force Mosley to pass the torch? Before answering this question, let’s look at some interesting facts.

Mosley has been a loser against Forrest. Forrest was outpointed by Tszyu. Tszyu had a nightmare with Hatton. Hatton was wobbled by Collazo… Some food for thought, isn’t it?

Billed then as the best pound for pound king, Mosley beat Oscar De La Hoya twice, the only man in history to accomplish this feat. He was eloquent, fluent and confident before meeting with Forrest. In their first encounter, Forrest dropped the undefeated champion twice and scored a 12 round unanimous decision. Six months later, Mosley came back and waged another war. Although he survived 12 rounds without being knocked down, the myth of Mosley was completely dispelled this time. He can be called a loser when facing Vernon Forrest.

Although Forrest has swept past Mosley twice, he was easily outscored by Tszyu in the final at the 1991 World Championships in Sydney when both men were amateurs.

As everyone knows, Kostya Tszyu had a nightmare with Ricky Hatton on the night of June 4, 2005. The British boxing sensation Ricky Hatton made Kostya Tszyu quit in the 11th round and started a new era. Hatton was in Tszyu’s face from the opening bell and kept pressure on his opponent the entire match. He turned up the heat over the last five rounds with harsh uppercuts and cruel punishments forcing the defending champion to struggle in desperation and quit the match following the 11th round.

Despite winning, Hatton was outshined by Collazo. Many boxing fans had never seen him fight and didn’t really know who he was until that night. The crafty southpaw confused Hatton by the mid-round and even wobbled him before the final bell rang.

What makes it this way? I’d say styles make a fight.

Zhenyu Li is the senior writer for People’s Daily online. He can be reached at zhenyuli_cn@sina.com