Though Shane Mosley gave WBA Junior Middleweight belt-holder Winky Wright everything he could handle, Wright got the edge on the judges scorecard last Saturday night.

    Still, Mosley did far more damage to Wright than he did in the first fight when Wright cruised to a unanimous decision. For those impressed by Wright's consistently effective jab and steady-paced attack, Winky was the winner. But if you appreciated sporadic power hooks which appeared to stagger Wright several times, then Mosely won the fight. In a sense, it was the boxer vs. the puncher.

    After each round, the two fighters touched gloves in respect over the head of referee Joe Cortez. Then Wright and Mosley would solicit support from the crowd on the return trip to each fighter's respective corner.

    Wright's solid right jab kept Mosley at bay for much of the fight, Yet, Mosley created the bout's most dramatic moments. In rounds five and eight, stunned right with hooks to the head and body. While eleven and twelve. At the urging of new trainger Joe Goossen, Sugar Shane launched all out attacks in the final two rounds. In round eleven Wright held excessivly to stifle the attack. But in the bout's final round, Wright grabbed onto Mosley for dear life because Sugar Shane's assault was finding its mark. It's astounding that any judge could have given Wright the final round, but two of the three scorecards had Winky taking the last round.

the way most people thought it would. Just like the Hopkins-DeLaHoya affair. It was the opinion of most that after those     Had the third judge given Mosley round twelve, the decision would have been a majority draw. After the announcement of the razor-thin decision, Wright gave Mosley credit. "He was a great fighter. I caught him with more shots He deserved the rematch, though. He came to fight." said Wright. two fights the two men left standing would be Hopkins and Tito. Of course it is now expected for these two to sign a

    Mosley maintained that he landed "the better, cleaner shots." When it came to landing body blows, Mosley put in a yeoman's effort, pelting Wright to the body with solid hooks throughout the fight.

    Mosley fired his father as his trainer after the first fight, when Wright dominated behind his right jab on his way to a decision that gave him the undisputed 154-pound title. In Mosley's corner for the rematch was Goossen, but that wasn't enough in the early rounds for Mosley to change the pattern set in the first fight. "I thought we won the last round, thought we won the fight," Goossen said.

    Punch stats showed Wright landing 273 punches to 154 for Mosley, but Mosley seemed to land the harder punches. The edge was in the jab, where Wright was credited with landing 138 to only 46 for Mosley.

    The win was the second straight setback for Mosley, who seemed destined to fight big money bouts after beating Oscar De La Hoya last year.

    Now it is Wright, a fighter who toiled in relative obscurity most of his career, who seems ready to cash in against the likes of De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad and Bernard Hopkins.

   "Tito's No. 1," Wright said of Trinidad. "But I'll fight Oscar, Bernard Hopkins, whoever the fans want."

   Both Wright (48-3, 25 knockouts) and Mosley (39-4, 35 KOs) weighed the class limit of 154 pounds. coming up that may have some bearing on the current situation.

   On November 20th Winky Wright meets Sugar Shane Mosley in a rematch. Wright upset Shane to take his W.B.A 154 pound title and now the proud Mosley wants it back. If Hopkins-Trinidad II can not be made for any reason, it is possible that the winner of Wright-Mosley II will be in a position to fight either Bernard or Trinidad. Who do I pick in the Wright-Mosley rematch ? To answer that I would like to take a quote from an interview I had with former I.B.F. lightweight champion Harry Arroyo. Harry's view on his title losing bout to Kronkster Jimmy Paul. " Jimmy Paul was a good fighter, not a great fighter. There are some styles of fighters that are made to lose to another fighter. Jimmy Paul's style was made to beat me. I think if I fought him ten times, Jimmy would win ten times. Not because he is a better fighter, but because of his style."

   To me Harry said it all. Winky totally shut down Mosley in their first meeting. I really do not see anything changing this time around. Winky's got Shane's number. It's all about the styles.