Underdog Boxing: Mosley, blisters and damaged legacies

Shane Mosley wanted to quit because of a blister on his foot. Try reading that again. Somehow, reading it over and over still doesn’t make it sound right. Mosley is a warrior; a fighter who defeated Oscar de la Hoya twice, a fighter who lists Fernando Vargas, Ricardo Mayorga, and Antonio Margarito as knockout victims, and, most of all, a fighter who has never been stopped in his entire career. Yet, he was willing to throw everything away because of a freaking blister on his foot. Rather than suck up the pain and fight for another six minutes, Mosley wanted his trainer to pull the plug on the fight. It’s ironic because Mosley had all the power in the world to stop the fight. He could have just pulled a “no mas" and turned his back on Pacquiao but he didn’t. He was not tough enough to continue fighting but he was not brave enough to quit on his own. He had to hide behind his trainer stopping the fight for him. Let’s backtrack to 2004, a young Manny Pacquiao was in the fight of his life against Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao also had a blister on his foot because he bought cheap socks but he never even thought about asking Freddie Roach to stop the fight. He was being peppered by counters which he could not block or parry but Pacquiao persevered and fought to a draw. Blisters are not the type of injuries that should make fighters want to quit. There have been fighters who have managed to finish fights even with broken hands. “You’re cut from a different cloth Shane!," Naazim Richardson told his ward. His trainer knew Mosley was a cut above most fighters but at that one point in time, he was just the same as everyone else What was it that forced a normally proud warrior to go out on a whimper? Fear. Pure unbridled fear. He did not quit because of a blister. He quit because the blister prevent him from running around the ring which was what he was doing for the past seven rounds. Mosley was so afraid of not being able to move because he knew he was going to be knocked out if he stayed stationary. If he stays in front of Pacquiao, he will be put to sleep. The choice was easy for Mosley but the problem was he didn’t want to quit on his own. He wanted to trainer to do it for him to salvage a bit of pride. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Pacquiao’s effect on fighters. It does not matter if you are as skilled as Mosley, as big as Joshua Clottey, or as menacing as Antonio Margarito. If you try to fight back against Pacquiao, he will take advantage of all the little spaces you leave open. And for Mosley and Clottey, getting out of a fight against Pacquiao in one piece is far more important than keeping their legacy. -- OMG, GMA News