"You have to have a little bit of a decoy, a little misdirection, and that misdirection was the reason the right hand landed in the second round. Mosley threw a jab to the body and then bang, came upstairs with the right hand. A little misdirection, a little trickery, and you're able to nail a real good defensive fighter like Mayweather," stated ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas as he shared his thoughts on Floyd Mayweather's unanimous decision victory over Shane Mosley this past weekend. As he broke down the fight, Atlas hinted that there are indeed some flaws in Mayweather's game that can be exploited. "There are some things to gain if you're a future opponent or if you're Mr. Pacquiao getting ready to fight Mr. Mayweather," he added. Check out what else he had to say about the fight, the performances of both fighters, Shane Mosley's future plans and much more.
On Mayweather's response to the big right hand that rocked him in the second round..
Well, that's what champions do. You know, not to mention, if you're going to be called a great fighter, that's what you do. You survive bad nights and you also survive nights when you get hit, you know, on the potato. So nothing shocking there; you're supposed to do that. But as far as performance, he got done what he needed to get done. He took what was given him. There were things given him where Molsey waited, he got off. There were times Mosley decided to come in; Mosley was never sure of his identity in this fight, what he had to do on a consistent level, but when he came in, he [Mayweather] countered him. He pot-shotted him a little bit; one shot, very rarely two shots at a time. Not a very exciting fight, but a very efficient fight for Mr. Mayweather.
On what an opponent could take away from Mayweather performance e against Mosley...
Well, first of all, you saw it. You don't throw a naked punch. You don't throw a cold punch with Mayweather. You have to have a little bit of a decoy, a little misdirection, and that misdirection was the reason the right hand landed in the second round. Mosley threw a jab to the body and then bang, came upstairs with the right hand. A little misdirection, a little trickery, and you're able to nail a real good defensive fighter like Mayweather. So it shows you that. Also, when he moves his head and he disappears on ya, don't chase the head. Go after the body. So there are some things to gain if you're a future opponent or if you're Mr. Pacquiao getting ready to fight Mr. Mayweather.
On what's next for Shane Mosley...
If you can't win at the top level, you know, and you've been a tremendous fighter, I don't like to use the word great, but maybe you could use it, a great fighter, a great performer, do you stay there if you can't win at that elite level? I don't think you do. The ego gets in the way; maybe the ego that made him great will keep him to test the waters again at maybe just a notch below Mayweather because Mayweather is an elite level. There is still a top level that's a little below Mayweather and maybe you think you can fit in there, so you give it one more try. Give it the old college try one more time, see if you fit in that level just below Mayweather, but if you can't get it done at the top level anymore, what you don't want is to take away and diminish from your great legacy.