Call it a case of poetic justice or a case of three blind mice scoring a fight, the truth of the matter is that the hyped up rematch between Oscar de la Hoya of Golden Boy fame and Shane Mosley of Sweet reputation has left a sour taste in my mouth and anguish in my soul.

Shane Mosley KNOWS in his heart and soul that he did not beat Oscar de la Hoya on September 13, 2003 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. If you want proof of that, make it your business to watch the replay of the affair, and just before the decision is announced check out the Mosley corner... slowly... carefully.... Dead men were walking over there, until Michael Buffer said ..."and NEW"... No one was any happier than the fighter himself; his expression changed, his mood was immediately up lifted and millions of jaws dropped across America I am sure, mine included.

I kept hoping Michael Buffer would grab the mic to say he had made a mistake. I hoped against hope some commissioner would inform the public that the tallies were incorrect. I just kept waiting for something to happen, a correction, something, (?) anything (?!?)... But nothing happened, and I got that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. My grey matter screamed: they did it again, them damn judges did it again in Las Vegas!!! and then I realized that the biggest heist in Las Vegas to date had just taken place.

Many wonderful articles have been written on the subject in the last 24 hours, so I'll spare you the monotony of it all. But I will say this, on a good night Mosley won 4 rounds out of 12, and I did say on a good night. He should have been penalized for the head butting techniques, and for excessive holding, too; after all, how many warnings is a fighter entitled to before points are deducted? Was the lack of enforcement due to Joe Cortez' firmness or fairness? You be the judge, please watch the replay of the event.

As a Felix Trinidad fan and supporter I felt no remorse when Oscar de la Hoya lost to Trinidad, even though the truth of the matter was that he had dominated the early rounds of the match. I, and many others, felt that Oscar became a marathon man in the championship rounds and was penalized for it. Oscar de la Hoya did not do that against Shane Mosley this past Saturday. He fought from opening bell to the end, gave Mosley a boxing lesson, remained focused and executed his game plan as well as anyone could have expected of him.

I don't know how anyone else sees it, but at the risk of sounding like Teddy Atlas, we need a National Commission to save boxing from itself. Scoring should be done by the round, and not by points, that is the most sensible and foolproof way of doing it. Testing needs to happen, across the nation in a uniform way where all states test for the same substances, first and foremost for communicable diseases and enhance performing drugs. The Effort Rule should be enforced if available, and if not available, it should become a part of each commission's rules.

Promoters, networks and managers roles and conduct must be redefined and monitored very carefully. Judges and referees should be held accountable for their actions; it is inconceivable that more often than not the same officials are involved in controversial decisions, shouldn't that be a telling sign that there is a problem with them?

It is becoming increasingly difficult to defend the sport and even more heart wrenching to continue to feel enthusiastic about boxing and its participants.

In closing, I will borrow Warner Wolf's words and advise you very strongly to go to the video tape. Watch the fight, listen to Papa Jack tell his son how he was losing rounds, how he was behind, how we was not doing enough. Watch Oscar's work throughout the fight, and finally, watch the reaction from the Mosley corner when the decision was announced. Their faces told the story. Shane Mosley did not beat Oscar de la Hoya on September 13th at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada; the judges did.

09-14-2003

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