Winner & New WBA Welterweight Champion:
"Sugar" Shane Mosely
Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) is a world champion again as he dominated WBA welterweight world champion Antonio Margarito (37-6, 27 KOs) , earning a stoppage victory in the ninth round before a pro-Margarito crowd at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA. The 20,820 in attendance was the largest crowd to ever see an event at the arena. Mosley began the bout aggressively and won most of the exchanges between the two fighters. Margarito had his moments during the middle rounds, but Mosley consistently landed the harder and more effective combinations. Mosley hurt Margarito, ultimately dropping him at the end of the eighth round. Although Margarito survived the round, Mosley went in for the kill in the ninth round and had Margarito reeling against the ropes until Margarito’s corner threw in the towel, prompting referee Raul Caiz to stop the bout at 43 seconds of the round.
During the pre-match preparations, the California State Athletic Commission determined that Margarito was attempting to include a hard plastic piece within the taping of his hands. He then had to have his hands wrapped with tape 3 times to meet the requirement. With this said, his previous decisive defeat again Miguel Cotto must be questioned as to whether or not his gloves were loaded with this object when he took the WBA Welterweight Championship from Cotto.
After the match, ringside announcer Jim Lampley had this to say:
Before the fight, Shane Mosely's trainer was in Antonio Margarito's dressing room to watch his hands being wrapped. He pointed out to California State Athletic Commission Officials that he saw something being put into the hand wrap which was illegal and did not belong there. California State Athletic Commission Officials confirmed that they found within Antonio Margarito's hand wrap something that they are calling a "hard plastic shell". They removed it from the hand wrap. Margarito's hands had to be wrapped 3 times to achieve a legal wrap, and then he came into the fight. Now we all remember how those thudding blows in Las Vegas beat down Miguel Cotto last July....there weren't any thudding blows tonight. Did Margarito just cast a large shadow over his giant victory over Cotto last summer?