By Coach Tim Walker – Okay. I took a bit of heat from Eastside readers for not taking a stance on which fighter, Floyd Mayweather Junior or Shane Mosley, I favored to win. As I mentioned before, the fight is really close and I think the winner will be determined by whichever fighter has the higher mental acuity and makes the proper adjustments at the appropriate times, nearly instantaneously..
After watching the weigh in very closely, there are a couple of things I want to point out.
1) Mayweather is larger than I recall.
Prior to his layoff from boxing, he faced off with Oscar De La Hoya at 154 and Ricky Hatton at 147. He was noticeably smaller than Oscar and seemed not as thick as Ricky on fight night. Sure, I knew he was bigger than Juan Manuel Marquez, who faced Mayweather at 147. Still, I expected Mosley to be much, much bigger than Floyd. In the chest, Mosley seems more robust while Mayweather seems to have smaller shoulders but slighter larger arms.
2) Both fighters are in extremely good shape.
Other than an exercise equipment info-mercial I don’t when I’ve ever seen such well defined abs. Still, one of the things that is being overlooked is that there is a possibility that Mosley has been over-trained for this fight. Recall, Mosley was originally scheduled to face Andre Berto and was already in camp for that fight. Berto pulled out only about 2 weeks before the scheduled fight date of January 30. Almost immediately the Mayweather fight was made. Mosley, to my understanding, continued to train. Typically, upper level fighters expect camps lasting somewhere in the area of 12 weeks. Potentially, Mosley has been in training camp for 5-6 months. There is such a thing as over training. We’ll see.
3) Mosley didn’t look his usual unflappable self.
If you’ve ever been to a Mosley fight then you know he is a cool customer. As cool as they come. During the weigh in I saw signs of a fighter trying to look as if he isn’t affected by the task set before him. Normally the champion enters the weigh in last and mounts the scale last, but not for this weigh in. There is no title on the line in this bout. Mayweather entered the arena last and, if you paid close attention, you could clearly see Mosley suggesting that Mayweather mount the scales first. Ultimately, Mosley mounted the scales first and this seemed to rattle Mosley slightly. Then something very interesting happened. When both fighters towed the line, Mosley turned away from Mayweather during the stare down. Maybe his attention was disrupted by some talk on the stage but he did in fact turn away and that is a big no no. If you normally laugh during a stare down, that’s fine. If you normally don’t break eye contact then that’s something different. When he faced the photographers he looked slightly uncomfortable as well before he started smiling.
4) Mayweather might be in Mosley’s head.
I see and hear things coming from Mosley that I have neither seen nor heard before. He never disrespects opponents, is professional and is always fan and media friendly. If you dish it, he’ll dish it back but he never starts it. I noticed Mosley speaking to Mayweather during the weigh in face off. Something I have never seen before. So I went back and looked at the Mosley fights I have and didn’t find another episode where he initiated trash talking. Mayorga got in his face so he dished it back at him but he doesn’t usually initiate it. Food for thought, what’s more interesting the fact that Mosley is out of character by talking or that Mayweather is out of character by not responding?
Thus, My Prediction
I am excited and expect a really good, highly competitive fight and after seeing the weigh in I fully expect Mayweather to win by unanimous decision. No sense in straddling the fence. So there you have it. Enjoy the fight.
Coach Tim Walker is a contributing writer for Eastsideboxing.com and his own personal blog at boxing4life.blogspot.com welcomes comments. To suggest fighters for Monthly Stud and The Project please email tpwalker@hotmail.com. I welcome questions or comments.