Preview: Antonio Margarito Vs. Sugar Shane Mosely

On Saturday January 24th, the leading welterweight in the world will face a living and dangerous legend at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, when Antonio Margarito defends his WBA title against Shane Mosley

The Champion: Antonio "Tony" Margarito (36-5, 26 KOs)

5'11", 73" reach, 30 years old

Current WBA welterweight champion; Former WBO and IBF welterweight champion

While he might have only the black WBA strap around his waist, make no mistakes, Tony Margarito is the champ. in all senses of the word. His resounding victory over Miguel Cotto cemented his status as the best 147lbs fighter in the world today. His record also includes a points win over Joshua Clottey, and knockout wins over former titlist Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis, Antonio Diaz, and banger Kermit Cintron (twice).

Margarito is a tall, lanky, welterweight. His style is all about coming forward, pushing the action, and putting hurt on the other guy with his formidible punching power. Margarito is also seemigly impervious to pain, and has a concrete chin. On the other hand, he is also a one-trick boxer. Paul Williams, who is even bigger than Margarito, was able to use size and reach to shut him down. Joshua Clottey was doing pretty well against Margarito before hurting his hand and losing every round after that. The champ is tough, but not invincible.

The Challenger: "Sugar" Shane Mosley (45-5, 38KOs)

5'9", 74" reach, 37 years old

Former Lightweight, Welterweight, and Super Welterweight Champion

Shane Mosley is truly a legend in his own time. He has built a career featuring world titles in three weight classes, and never backed down from a challenge. His record includes wins over Philip Holiday, John John Molina, Jesse James Leija, Wilfredo Rivera, Oscar de la Hoya (twice), and Ricardo Mayorga. Against this is his narrow, 2007 loss to Miguel Cotto, and his double defeats with Winky Wright and Vernon Forrest.

Mosley is aging, and while he is clearly not as sharp as he was when he fought Wright in 2004, neither is he "old" yet. The Sugarman still stands as one of the fastest fighters in the division, and is a picture perfect example of the all-around boxer-puncher who can box from either stance and wields power in both hands.

The Fight

Say what you will about Mosley, he only goes after the best. He could be fighting Andre Berto for the WBC title, instead of the fearsome Margarito. As usual, Mosley sets his sights on the best in the division and sets out to beat him.

Margarito is there to be outboxed and counterpunched, and it doesn't take a giant like Paul Williams to do it. The Mexican is scary, but not invincible. Mosley has the tools to do this, but I don't think he has quite the speed or stamina anymore. It would require a lot of movement and consistently good reflexes to keep Tony's pressure misdirected for 12 Rounds, and it is questionable if the Sugarman has that kind of sweetness. Furthermore, one of the things that makes Mosley a great gladiator is his willingness to mix it up. If Margarito hurts him, he will want to hurt Margarito back. The punches that made Cotto back up and stopped Mayorga might hurt Margarito, but he won't show it and he won't stop.

While Margarito is not the tallest and rangiest fighter Mosley has fought (that is Vernon Forrest), he might very well be the hardest puncher and is surely the most rugged. His relentless pressure, durability, power, and high work rate (reaching to over 100 punches a round sometimes) would make him a risky match for even a peak Mosley. This fight will be competitive, but sooner or later it will break into open war. There will be truly photographic moments, but Margarito will keep getting stronger as Mosley fades, and sweep the final rounds. A knockdown or two after Round 5 will clinch the scorecards, but "Sugar" Shane Mosley has a good jaw, has never been stopped, shows no signs of being shopworn, and won't be knocked out on the 24th.

Margarito wins by UD12 over Mosley

This fight will be televised on HBO's World Championship Boxing at 10pm EST.