1. HEADING into the fight with southpaw Luis Collazo in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center on February 10 2007, Shane Mosley was one of three men to have beaten Oscar De La Hoya – whose Golden Boy Promotions staged the fight.
2. THE last time Mosley had made the 10st 7lbs welterweight limit was for his 2002 rematch with Vernon Forrest where he was outpointed in a challenge for the WBC title.
3. MOSLEY’S record against southpaws was not convincing going into the test against Collazo. Winky Wright had outboxed him twice in Shane’s previous fights with a leftie.
4. COLLAZO only landed the fight after recent IBF champ Kermit Cintron couldn’t take the match due to contractual problems. He spoke in the build-up of hoping to go on to clinch an all-Puerto Rican clash with WBA champion Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden.
5. HOWEVER, it was not to be. Collazo could only manage to win five rounds over all three judges’ scorecards, dropping a unanimous decision. Adelaide Byrd had it 119-108 while Duane Ford and Nabuaki Uratani both scored it 118-109 for Mosley..
6. COLLAZO attempted to impose himself physically early on, jolting Mosley with a number of lefts, but Shane’s work rate took most of the early rounds before the contest turned into a brawl through the middle rounds.
7. THE fight became a scrappy affair by the ninth. Collazo seemed to be enjoying a resurgence in the 11th until a crushing right hook by Mosley sent the Brooklyn man to the canvas. Mosley fended Luis off in the last round and made sure to clinch it with a late pair of stinging right hands.
8. AS things turned out, it was Mosley who went on to face Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden – dropping a close unanimous decision.
9. MOSLEY would go on to lose five of his next nine fights, including bouts against Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jnr, Manny Pacquiao and ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
10. COLLAZO had to wait another two years for a shot at the WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto. He would lose a unanimous decision.
