By Jeff Aronow: Veteran super middleweight Shane Mosely Jr (18-4, 10 KOs) pulled off a surprising 10 round majority decision upset against former two-time world title challenger Gabe Rosado (26-15-1, 15 KOs) last Saturday night to snatch the WBA Continental Americas 168-lb title from the popular gatekeeper at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Ideally, Mosley would like to use his victory over Rosado as a springboard to get a world title shot at 160 or 168. Still, he will need to beat some other solid contenders to get a high enough ranking to get noticed by one of the champions.
Mosley Jr. used his height, reach, hand speed, and accurate punching to dominate the experienced Rosado to win by the scores 98-92, 97-93, and 95-95.
Most boxing fans would agree that the 98-92 score was the most accurate of the three scores, and the 95-95 was the least.
In the tenth round, Mosley Jr. stunned Rosado with a big shot but couldn’t put him away despite giving it a good try.
The victory for Mosley Jr over Rosado is arguably the best on his nine-year resume by far. Up until last Saturday night, Mosley Jr’s best win came against journeyman Calvin Metcalf. Mosley Jr. had never come through in his most challenging fights until last Saturday.
How much of that is due to Rosado being on the downside of his career. Mosley Jr. does look like he’s improved from his recent losses against Jason Quigley and Brandon Adams.
To be sure, if Mosley Jr had fought against those guys the way he did against Rosado, it’s fair to say he would have beaten them.
“Of course, when he saw that it was getting further and further away, he wanted me to sit and bang with him, and that’s a veteran thing to do. Why would I do that?” said Shane Mosley Jr. to Fight Hub TV last Saturday night after his win over Gabe Rosado.
“I’m ahead. I’m going to keep my lead. I’m not going to get into your game. I don’t need to knock you out. I need to win, and that’s why I got this [WBA Continental Americas super middleweight title],” Mosley Jr continued.
“I felt good in there. I stuck to the game plan, and I knew if I kept my speed, my IQ, and my boxing, he couldn’t beat me. Obviously, he [Rosado] said, ‘Come on, man,’ because he wanted me to bang with him. Why would I do that?
“In my opinion, in the tenth round, I was beating you by nine rounds, so why would I bang with you? For what? In the last part of the tenth round, I almost stopped him. So, I was like, I don’t need to do that.
“My thing was being smart, being focused, and worrying about the game plan and sticking to that. Don’t get into his veteran stuff. Don’t get in the back of the head or anything like that. He’s a crafty guy. That’s why a guy like Bek the Bully gets knocked out by him, right?
“He has power, he punches hard, he’s strong physically. If I engage with that, he’s going to beat me. So, why would I do that? I can’t call that.
“Maybe they were thinking because he was aggressive and I was moving around boxing, maybe that judge doesn’t like that. Who knows?” said Mosley Jr. in reacting to the judge that scored his fight with Rosado 95-95.
“In my opinion, I won, and on the other two judges’ scorecards, I won pretty convincingly. I just want to enjoy this and soak this in. later on down the line, I can make a decision, but right now, I just want to enjoy this victory,” Mosley Jr. said when asked who he’d like to fight next.
“That’s an incredible compliment. I’m going to call him and tell him,” said Mosley Jr. tearing up after being told that he looked like his dad with the way he performed against Rosado. “Thank you, man.
“I’ve got to see what the division is looking like, and what my opportunities are. I can still make 160, but I just got to see what’s available. The 168 division is pretty locked up as far as championships. I want to get a championship. I want to get a real one of these [world titles].
“I want to get the official WBA championship. So if this gets me closer to the official WBA championship, cool, if it gets me closer to the 168, everyone is gunning for that one because it’s Canelo. Who knows? We’ll see what happens, and we’ll go from there.
“I think he’s going to say he’s proud of me, I hope,” said Mosley Jr. when asked what his dad will say to him when they talk.
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