LARRY MOSLEY WIN A BOXING CLINIC By George J. Elsasser

The ESPN FNF gang bought itself a card saver last nite when semi-retired slickster Larry Mosley opened the televised portion with a clinic of a performance - make that a gem of an outing.

Mosley faced Adan Casillas in a scheduled 8-round prelim ... Mosley at 11-1, 2 KOs and Casillas at 16-5 with 12 stoppages - and then the opening bell.

Mosley looking slow but cagey ... late in round he scores with both hands and becomes greedy ... and while looking for the opening round KO he's caught with big right hand and finds a seat on the canvas - end of mistakes.

From second stanza on it is all Mosley ... a performance worthy of clinic status ... it's the jab ... the counter left-hook that rarely misses, and toss in a right hand that arrives from varying angles.

Round five it's Casillas on the deck ... courtesy of big left hook to the body ... beats the count but Mosley is quickly on the attack and scoring with both hands to the head ... late in round Adan is dropped again from right hand to body.

Beauty of the Mosley clinic is his getting the job done with minimal exertion ... a step here, a step there, a jab, a feint ... we're talking right from the book to the squared circle.

Pace slows in number six ... but seven sees Mosley doing what comes naturally and Casillas doin' the catching ... but make no mistake the guy kept trying ... but appears a faded entity on this night.

Now it is midway point of final number eight and Mosley senses a kill ... big right hand followed with left-hook closes the show in convincing style.

Where this one places the unranked Mosley is anyone's guess ... probably remains at "opponent" status but one has to wonder what went wrong earlier in his career ... this guy can box.

Less said about main event the better ... on paper it looked good ... Heriberto Ruiz at 28-2-2, 14 KOs facing Cristobal Cruz of Mexico in U.S. debut with 25-4-1, 16 stops on the resumes.

We're talking bantamweights here ... a guaranteed action affair, right? Wrong! ... I mean we're talkin' "let me call you sweetheart" stuff ... and slow bantamweights by any other name is only popular with insomniacs.

Goes the full ten candles with Ruiz out pecking a confused Cruz to the tune of 98-91- 97-92 99-90 ... to be fair to Ruiz he did come to life after being victimized in round ten by Cruz "accidental" head butt ... resulted in Ruiz dropping Cruz with right hand.

Post Script: Vaudevillians Brian and Maxie boy are becoming harder and harder to take with each passing week ... think it would help seeing them do the gig while dressed in team mascot costumes.

Semper fi,

GEL