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Photo © HoganPhotos.com
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This fight was anything but the one sided affair we witnessed the last time these two fighters met. While Wright came out victorious once again the fight was much more competitive and had much closer scores. The fight began with Mosley determined to prove that he still has a lot of boxing left as he put together 3 and 4 punch combinations, as opposed to the last fight where he was reduced to being a one punch at a time boxer. Despite Shane’s obvious improvement in several areas, Wright dominated the first round with his hard and stiff right jab. Over the next few rounds Wright would continue to press the action with his jabs followed by a few straight left hands, but unlike the last fight Mosley was firing back hard combinations to the champion’s body.
In the fifth round the tide seemed to turn a little in favor of Mosley as the overconfident Wright showing off, dropped his hands to show Mosley that his punches couldn’t hurt him. This bit of boasting cost him the round as Mosley pounded Wright to the body instead of going for “Winky’s” head which is what the champion was expecting him to do. One right hook to the body apparently hurt Wright and while the champion was trying to recover from the punch Mosley dominated the last part of the round by pressing the action and forcing Wright to back up. In the next few rounds Mosley would try to slow Wright down with impressive body work which was non existent in the first fight while “Winky” would try to control Shane with his jabs.
In the eighth and ninth rounds both fighters traded body shots, each raising his hands in the end of round 9 to try to play to the crowd as if the fight was a popularity contest. In round ten Wright took back control of the fight with stiff right jabs and crisp left hands. The last two rounds were the least exciting of the fight as they were marked by lots of holding and wrestling as the cautious champion believing that he was up on the score cards did not want to take any chances. Overall this was a more spirited and competitive battle than their previous meeting. In the end it was Ronald “Winky” Wright coming out victorious by a majority decision. (114-114, 115-113, 115-113)
This was the case of one fighter just being too big for the other. While Mosley ruled the lightweights his effectiveness as a puncher decreased as he moved up to 154lbs. On the other hand Wright is a natural 154 pounder who always fought at this weight. This was the case with De la Hoya as he fought the much bigger Hopkins. Does this mean that if fighters like Mosley and De la Hoya were to go back down in weight they would still be as dominant as they were in the past? I would have to say, probably. In any case the heavier divisions are where the big pay days are and we can’t blame Shane or any other boxers for trying to make some money. We also have to admire Mosley and others like him for their courage and the willingness to face any opponent regardless of size. If anything, Mosley proved by making this a competitive fight that he still is a force to be reckoned with in any weight division. At the same time Wright proved what many of us knew long ago and that is that he deserves to be among the best in his weight division. With his second win over Mosley, he might finally get the chance for the big fights he always wanted and don’t be surprised if his next fight is against Trinidad. Can’t wait to see that! Can you?
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2004
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By Oleg Bershadsky (November 22, 2004) 
