Boxing royalty turned out to support Mosley with Roberto Duran and Gilbert Mendoza Jr walking out with Mosley and working his corner. Roberto Duran showed Mosley unprecedented respect by holding the ropes for him as he entered the ring and the crowd went wild.
The fight started off with a bang as Mosley received a cut from a nasty head butt in the first round. Shortly after the head butt, Mosley knocked Lopez to the mat. The crowd thought the fight would soon be over after the first knockdown in the second round, but Mosley appeared to toy with Lopez and back off slightly.
Mosley gave the crowd every dime of their monies worth as he continues to engage Lopez, almost as if he wanted to prolong the fight to show the crowd just what he’s got.
Lopez coming off three consecutive victories and eight years Mosley’s junior, filled the stadium with Venezuelan fans who chanted Lopez name throughout the fight. Mosley was unshaken with the large portion of the crowd cheering for Lopez and continued to dominate the fight. Mosley knocked Lopez down a total of four times prior to a tenth round TKO.
This Shane Mosley was reminiscent of the one who knocked out Mayorga in the last round and annihilated Margarito in 2009. Mosley was fast, accurate, and dominated the fight before finally knocking a very tired Lopez out in the last round of the fight.
The crowd went crazy as Mosley picked up the WBA international welterweight belt, and as he exited the arena to his locker room the feverish crowd descended upon Mosley and his family almost knocking them all to the ground a number of times before the security formed a human barrier to protect the newly crowned champion.
Many counted Mosley out prior to the contest, but the people in Panama got to see different. They got to see a living legend and found out convincingly that “Sugar” Shane Mosley is back.
“It was a good fight. A great fight, but I didn’t expect it to be easy since Lopez is a two-time Olympian. I knew I would knock him out though as I am too good right now and I don’t think anyone can beat me,” Mosley told World Boxing News after the fight.
