Monday, Sept. 15, 2003 | 9:31 a.m.
It is generally agreed that Shane Mosley failed to capitalize on his 2000 win against Oscar De La Hoya. He went into a shell, fought a few lesser opponents, and eventually was beaten in back-to-back fights that scuttled his marketability.
But brought back to the precipice once again by a second win against De La Hoya, Mosley and his handlers get another shot at lasting greatness.
This time there's reason to believe they'll at least attempt to capitalize.
"There's nobody we're calling out," promoter Gary Shaw said after his man beat De La Hoya by decision Saturday night before a full house at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Yet Shaw and Mosley have some ready options, including a third fight with De La Hoya if it can be arranged. Perhaps more likely: fights with fellow junior middleweight world champion Winky Wright and former welterweight champion Vernon Forrest, both of whom witnessed Mosley making mincemeat out of De La Hoya, or maybe one with Fernando Vargas.
"We'll be in HBO's office (in New York) to discuss it (today)," Shaw said.
Mosley will be able to walk in without exhibiting a trace of having been in a 12-round fight. He came through the bout unscathed, while De La Hoya suffered a bad cut near his right eye and all kinds of swelling on his face.
In fact, as early as one round into the fight, De La Hoya's face was red. And it was real red by the end of the night, in more ways than one.
Mosley (and Shaw) weren't eager to be drawn into the post-fight controversy created by De La Hoya and Bob Arum, both of whom implied the fight was fixed.
De La Hoya landed 94 more punches than Mosley, yet he didn't land the most telling blows and lost each of the final four rounds on all three of the judges' cards.
"I don't want to say anything against Oscar," Mosley said. "He's a great fighter ... I'm just the one person he can't get by.
"I felt a lot stronger than him. I felt my punches were doing a lot more damage.
"I was in control physically. I'd be lying if I said I flat-out beat him every round (because) it was a good, close fight. But there's no doubt I feel I won."
The judges agreed and gave him the fight by a 115-113 score on every card.
"I love the guy and my respect will always be there," De La Hoya said of Mosley before telling the post-fight press conference audience that he would finance an investigation into the judges' scoring.
"I think I got a little tired of this," De La Hoya added, referring to another close loss, this one by majority decision, to Felix Trinidad in Las Vegas in 1999.
While De La Hoya and Arum stewed, Mosley and Shaw were almost giddy.
"I fought the fight of my life," Mosley said. "It was a close fight that could have gone either way and I got it."
He added a $500,000 bonus for winning the fight atop his guaranteed $4.5 million and is back in position for the stardom and prestige that seemed to elude him after he beat De La Hoya three years ago in Los Angeles.
"I had a lot of confidence in myself that I could come back and do this," Mosley said, his record up to 39-2 and his consecutive losses to Forrest now seemingly inconsequential. In dropping De La Hoya to 36-3, he returns to a place with a marvelous view.
It's a place where he can see stars -- and himself among them.
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