Shocker

A day later, I'm still having a hard time absorbing the Margarito-Mosley result. I'm not sure I've ever seen a fight that surprised me more, not so much in the result, but in the way it went down. Margarito often starts slow and absorbs a lot of blows before he warms up, but he never got going last night. And when he did land punches, it looked like Mosley was taking his shots better than Margarito was taking Mosley's. Mosley's naturally faster than Cotto, but the difference in speed and reflexes from Margarito in his July bought with Cotto and last night's loss was astounding. Not to take anything away from Mosley, who fought brilliantly, but Margarito's flat performance and his unwillingness to agree to the fight for a number of weeks makes me wonder if there is something physically wrong with him. 

Also, Mosley is the latest older fighter to turn back the clock (Bernard Hopkins, Nate Campbell, Joe Calzaghe) against younger, stronger guys. I don't ever remember a comparable stretch where older boxers were so dominant. It makes you wonder if boxers' primes have been lengthened by advances in nutrition and training, and if, absent a significant deterioration in skills brought on by blows in the ring, we can look forward to boxers regularly competing at a championship level into their late 30s.