FLOYD MAYWEATHER Jr W12 SHANE MOSLEY

What impressed me most of all about Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday night was the way he came back from a shaky second round to dominate the remainder of the fight against Shane Mosley.

The big question concerning Mayweather, for me anyway, was how he would come back from adversity. While he wasn’t in desperate trouble in round two, he had definitely been hurt by Mosley’s big right hand. He was coming back by the end of the round, though, and from the third he simply pulled away from the older man, so much so that Mosley was looking outclassed as early as the fourth.

Mayweather looked the bigger, stronger, tougher man. He was faster than Mosley and he was punching harder. I suggested in the preview that Mosley might be surprised by Mayweather’s physical strength but I hadn’t expected Mayweather to be backing him up and bullying him for much of the fight.

Mosley needed his great chin and big heart to get through the 12 rounds. Mayweather was punching hard and he was looking the part of a complete fighter. It was tempting to rate him with the welterweight greats.

It is easy to say that Mayweather was meeting a faded 38-year-old, but Mosley had looked very good when knocking out Antonio Margarito in his last fight and I seem to remember thoughts being expressed that Mayweather might try to dodge the meeting. There were even some who thought that Mosley would beat Mayweather and the general feeling was that the fight at least would be competitive. So it just seems unfair that Mayweather’s win is now being somehow downgraded.

By the middle rounds Mosley had the look of a fighter who knew he had no way to win. He wanted to touch gloves and be friends but Mayweather was having none of it. Mayweather kept the pressure on Mosley, even hammering him with a left hook and right hand when his opponent thought there was a temporary truce. Between rounds Mosley’s expression was that of a fighter who was suffering and longing for the final bell, while Mayweather looked serene and self-possessed, as if he could fight all night if necessary.

Mayweather’s speed had Mosley flummoxed. It was as if Mosley didn’t want to make a move in case he got drilled. In the commentary I had at my location, veteran Bob Sheridan was saying, correctly, that Mosley needed to let his hands go to have any chance of winning. It’s not easy to throw punches, though, when almost every aggressive thrust results in a boxer getting countered sharply. Doubt, even confusion, sets in.

This was a fight that Mayweather was expected to win but few could have anticipated that he would win 11 of the 12 rounds on two cards, 10 out of 12 on the third. It was a masterful performance by a master boxer.