Going into round twelve the judges scores were all over the place, which seemed fitting for a fight that meandered a bit in it’s own right. Judge Nelson Vasquez had Mosley winning 105-104, judge Tony Crebs had Mosley up 107-102, while Pat Russell favored Mayorga with a 105-104 mark. The Suite 101 scorecard had the fight a draw at 105-105 going into the home stretch.
Mayorga absorbed Mosley’s bombs all night without apparent effect, but a quick two punch combination dropped him to his knees with only seconds left in the fight. Mayorga rose to beat the count, but his synapses had already left the ring allowing Mosley to casually stroll up to the wild Nicaraguan and stretch him out with a short, hard left hook. Referee, Tony Crebs waived the fight immediately. Mosley jumped to the ropes to absorb cheers from the nearly 6,000 fans that enjoyed the fight at the Home Depot Center’s tennis stadium.
Eleven rounds earlier those same fans were gasping as Mosley repeatedly got caught with Mayorga’s wild right hands. Mosley, clearly befuddled but never truly hurt, couldn’t find any sort of rhythm until the third round when his own right hands, straighter and harder than Mayorga’s, started to land.
The fighters often mirrored one another as each charged in, heads down, trying to land the shot that would turn the fight in his favor. Consequently, their heads met several times, but, thankfully, without causing a cut.
Round six promised a turning point with Mosley landing almost at will and the proud Mayorga taunting in his inimitable style, sticking his chin out and daring his opponent to crack it open. Mosley obliged.
The promise of round six turned into disappointment with the pace slowing to a virtual crawl in subsequent rounds. “I’ll tell you what happened,” said Mosley after the fight. “I got two big blood blisters on my foot in the eighth round. I couldn’t push off of my right foot. My dad (trainer, Jack Mosley) said just go out and fight, so that’s what I did.”
With Mayorga winning rounds seven, eight, and nine on two of the three judge’s cards the fight had tightened up considerably going into the championship rounds. While Mosley couldn’t have known the scores, his increased effort revealed the urgency that his nail-biting fans, who had quieted, obviously felt.
Mosley unholstered his right hand again in round eleven, with three high caliber shots to Mayorga’s head. From ringside, Mayorga didn’t appear too shaken since he had taken similar punches earlier, but Mosley saw cracks beginning to appear. “I was softening him up and I could tell he was getting weaker.”
“I’ll tell you one thing,” said Mayorga. “He hit harder than I thought he would.”
Andre Berto vs. Stevie Forbes
WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto retained his title with a unanimous decision victory over Stevie Forbes. Two judges had Berto winning with 118-109 scores, while the third gave the challenger credit for two more rounds with a 116-111 mark. Suite 101 scored the fight 117-113 for Berto.
Both fighters flashed enviable speed and reflexes with Forbes countering Berto’s sometimes reckless assaults with left hooks to the head or right hand to the body, left hook combinations. But by the third round it had become obvious that Berto was much stronger, backing Forbes up for the rest of the fight. “I started to dominate in the fifth and sixth rounds,” said Berto, “He’s real slick and durable.”
Forbes vowed to return to the ring at 140 pounds, a more natural weight for him. “He’s a great fighter and a great champ, but I’m a junior welterweight and I just don’t turn down any challenges.”
After losing two straight fights, first to Oscar de la Hoya at junior middleweight and now to Berto at welter, Berto may have realized that some challenges are best unanswered.
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