PRE-FIGHT ANALYSIS: BERT SUGAR

by Bert Sugar

STRENGTHS OF BOTH FIGHTERS

SUGAR SHANE MOSLEY

• Mosley has blinding speed both of hand and feet.

• Possesses fast and sometimes dominating jab. Punches well in combinations and is one of the best body punchers in boxing.

• Has a new-old trainer in his father, Jack, who guided him to his early successes and was able to maximize his assets.

• Shane has a looping right hand, which is his major weapon and uses it effectively-here see first fight with Vargas and two with De La Hoya.

FERNANDO VARGAS

• Naturally bigger and stronger at this weight than Mosley.

• Vargas is an aggressive fighter, one who puts constant pressure on opponents moving inside where he works with both hands, especially with his signature punch, the left hook to the body.

• From a motivational standpoint, you get the impression this fight means a lot more to Vargas who wants to prove he could have won the first fight had he been allowed to continue.

WEAKNESSES OF BOTH FIGHTERS

MOSLEY

• Shane is just 5' 9" tall, a welterweight in build and must make up for his smaller stature with movement and hand speed.

• Once one of the best combination punchers and jabbers in boxing, Mosley threw just 20 jabs in the first fight and must revert to his former style of using both hands and doubling and tripling up on his jabs this time around.

• Shane forgot to fight his fight in the first match-up, letting Vargas walk right in on him, something he must alter this time.

VARGAS

• Fernando got hit with Shane's looping right too many times in the first fight and must defend better against it.

• Vargas stands straight up after he throws a punch, leaving himself open to Shane's looping rights and must stay lower and roll away, throwing his right this time as he bores in.

• A slow starter, Vargas cannot, as he did in the first fight, spend the first few rounds looking to land that one knockout punch.

• Vargas has always had trouble with his weight-although reports are that he reported to camp at 175 pounds for this one, not his usual 200.

WHAT EACH MUST DO TO WIN

MOSLEY

• Mosley must keep the fight at long range where he's faster in both hand and foot speed. There is no reason for him to try to slug it out inside as he did in the first fight.

• Mosley needs to use his jab more effectively. In the first fight he was just pawing with his jab, not snapping it as he used to. Last time he landed only 20 jabs against a poor defensive fighter and this time needs to snap his jab into Vargas' face, doubling- and tripling- up on it, then throw a straight right behind his jab.

• Mosley needs to move laterally. Too often in the first fight he backed straight up and allowed Vargas to walk straight in. This time he needs to establish distance by punching from long range with his jab and right cross, then slide sideways to the right or left and make Vargas turn and reset his feet before he can punch.

VARGAS

• The punch that Vargas got hit with time and again in the first fight was a looping right hand thrown more like a hook than a cross. He must avoid that right--which closed his eye and cost him the fight--by ducking and rolling under it. Vargas must move his head and stay underneath those Mosley rights and counter with left hooks to the body and head.

• Vargas has to crowd Mosley, staying close to him and keeping his head in Mosley's chest where Mosley can't hit him with that looping right.

• To win Vargas has to punch to Shane's body, then throw uppercuts. Mosley can be hit with either, especially right-hand uppercuts--for reference, see his fight with Vernon Forrest.