Saturday night's big fight in Las Vegas offered two unusual sights, one of which happened in an instant, the other playing out repeatedly over a long stretch of time.

The first was Floyd Mayweather taking a strong, flush shot to the head, a right hand from Shane Mosley that wobbled Money for a moment and had him holding and dodging to clear his senses. Since it came in the second round, it gave the impression that Floyd may have his hands full.

That impression turned out to be false, because the second surprising sight was Mosley looking flummoxed and discouraged for the better part of the last ten rounds. Shane has lost before, even dropping one by a wide margin (his first bout with Vernon Forrest), but I've seen all of his fights for at least the last decade and I've never witnessed him as helpless as he was on Saturday.

Mayweather has now gone 2-0 since his brief retirement, but that's hardly a surprise since he's never tasted defeat. The bigger story is that his speed, ring generalship and counter-punching brilliance has made both of his foes look so ordinary.

Yes, you could come up with reasons why both Juan Manuel Marquez and Mosley were overmatched from the beginning - JMM was too small, Sugar Shane too old. But the fact remains that these were multi-divisional world champions, certainly not stiffs, and they simply had no answers for Floyd.

Mayweather didn't stop Mosley, which is perhaps the one nit you could still pick. He said in the post-fight interview that he wishes he would have turned up the offense a bit earlier and gotten Shane out of there, but I doubt he ever considered that during the fight.

Still, he was impressive enough on a big enough stage that he has probably swung all the observers who were on the fence about whether he or Manny Pacquiao deserve the mythical pound-for-pound crown over to his side. Mayweather also put himself into a stronger negotiating position than ever for a potential bout with the Pac Man, perhaps so strong that Manny will have to give in to his drug testing demands for the fight to take place.

And if it seemed like that superfight needed to happen before, it really needs to be made now. Outside of the hardcore community of boxing fans, there will be little appetite among sports fans for seeing either man fight anyone but the other.

More thoughts from Saturday:

• Larry Merchant broke the world record for fastest question about a victorious boxer's next fight, essentially saying not much interesting happened for most of Mayweather-Mosley so he may as well move on to Pacquiao. It took some persistence, but he did seem to get Floyd to say there won't be a fight unless Manny agrees to his testing demands. Just posturing? We'll see.
• The pay-per-view had a typically unexciting undercard, but Saul Alvarez was a bit of a revelation. He got himself in trouble early, then relaxed and really put on a show against a very game Jose Miguel Cotto. Alvarez has pretty much every offensive tool you could want and is extremely poised for someone who hasn't even turned 20. I'm looking for big things from him over the next few years.
• Poor Andre Berto seems like the big loser from Saturday, which is ironic considering all the attention he got at the weigh-in. He's put some distance between himself and the rest of the welterweight pack, yet I can't see Mayweather or Pacquiao fighting him, and Mosley may retire after his subpar performance. I'm not sure what Berto's next move is going to be.
• It hurts me to say it, but my very early gut feeling is that Mayweather will be too much even for Pacquiao if they do fight. It will be the best defensive fighter in the world versus the best offensive fighter, excpet that Floyd's O is much better than Manny's D, which makes a big difference. One caveat: Money can't afford to get hit by Pac Man the way he did in the second round by Mosley, because he'll be looking at the lights if he does.

Well it looks like we may be waiting longer than expected for the fighters to make their way to the ring.  Mosley had just started getting his hands wrapped during the 9th round of the last undercard bout so it could be another 20 minutes at the least.

Just got a live shot in Mosley's dressing room.  His hands are still getting wrapped as of 11:01 eastern time!

Now Mayweather is shown putting on his gloves which is the first time he's even seen them.  Emmanuel Steward says that this is highly unusual and adds that boxers should try different gloves on by the weigh-in.

Mark Sanchez, Jeremy Piven, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mike Tyson, Mark Wahlberg, Will Smith, Michael J. Fox, Eva Longoria, Jamie Foxx, and Muhammed Ali, are all shown in the crowd.

They are still showing some filler,  my guess is it will be another 15 minutes before they walk out.

Finally they start with the pre-fight pageantry.  Chris Brown starts with national anthem.

Mosley makes his way to the ring first to "Till I Collapse" by Eminem.  He looks like he's all business.

Here comes Floyd in red and black robe and trunks part fur, part leather.  Actually Mayweather is still in his dressing room.  He's been requested and he says he's going to wait.  He's shown pacing around his dressing room.  Here he comes now.  The OJ's are performing "For the Love of Money" live and Emmanual Steward loves it.

Now it's time for the intros.  Mosley is 46-5 with 39 KOs and Mayweather is 40-0 with 25 KOs.  The crowd sounds slightly pro Mosley.

Here we go. no comments

We're wasting no time tonight getting to the undercard with a 10-round welterweight bout between Hector Saldivia and Said Ouali.

The HBO crew says Saldivia is the man to watch, and he has new middleweight champion Sergio Martinez supporting him. no comments

My man King J, Featured Boxing Columnist and Boxing Community Leader at Bleacher Report, is on the ground in Las Vegas for Mayweather-Mosley and has been texting me interesting updated betting lines for the big fight. The line for Sugar Shane has moved a bit, as he had been a 4-1 underdog but has come down to 3-1.

If you are bold enough to put your money on a Sugar Shane KO victory, that's currently at +460.

One of the more amusing boxing bets, kind of like betting the zero spot on a roulette wheel, is the draw. A bet on Floyd and Shane coming out tied on the scorecards is currently paying 22 to 1.

Saturday PM Update: More from King J in Vegas...

The lines on each man to win are now Mosley +280, Mayweather -380.

The prop bet for the fight going 11 rounds, which seems likely considering neither man has ever been stopped, is -380. Won't go 11 rounds is +300.

The money line for Floyd by decision is -230, which actually seems like a decent value to me.

Mayweather by KO is paying off at 16/5.

The latest in a nice long line of April and May boxing matches takes place tonight in Las Vegas as Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley go head to head.

Can Money continue to keep his pro record unblemished and stake his claim as one of the best of all time? Or will Sugar Shane defy Father Time and the odds by winning the biggest fight of what's already likely been a Hall of Fame career?

You won't know unless you watch tonight on HBO pay-per-view. Or, if that's not an option for you, you can return here at approximately 9 pm Eastern time and follow along as we do live updates on the undercard and live round by round blogging of the action in the main event.

We'll have new posts accessible from our home page as events warrant, so we'll see all you fellow fight fans later tonight.

Nick says...

For such a high profile boxing match, it's hard to find a boxing expert who thinks Shane Mosley has a decent chance of beating Floyd Mayweather. Some of that, of course, is because no one's ever done it before.

There's more too. Sugar Shane has very quick hands, but Floyd's are just as fast or faster. The style match-up seems difficult for Mosley as well, as he's historically had some trouble with guys who were solid on defense and could box (see Wright, Winky).

It's quite possible Shane may be physically stronger than Floyd and hit with more pop, but figuring out a way to actually put that advantage to good use is the real problem. Mosley is going to have to try to find a way to rewind the clock even more than he did against Antonio Margarito, upping his activity level and pressuring Mayweather into standing and trading - and even that might not work.

Mosley is one of my favorite boxers of all time, but looking at the fight objectively, there are just too many questions on his side: age, recent inactivity and the aforementioned style trouble. Add in the fact that Money really is the best at what he does and you can see why the fight's tagline "Who R U Picking?" is actually a rhetorical question.

I respect Nazim Richardson a lot and hope to see Mosley at least push Mayweather to have to dig a little deeper than usual, but I could also see Floyd outclassing Shane from the opening bell. Either way, it adds up to Mayweather by unanimous decision.

Uatu says...

Mayweather by decision. He is undefeated and a 4-1 favorite for a reason.

Max says...

Mayweather's speed will just be too much for Mosley.  I can't see this fight happening any other way.  It may have been a different story five years ago, but with Mosley's advancing age and Mayweather looking like he's in his prime every time he fights this should be a pretty dominating performance by Floyd.

Mosley's punching power should be considered as a wild card and could make things interesting, but I don't think Mayweather will give him any opportunity to land anything cleanly.

Mayweather by decision

It looks like a pretty nice crowd on hand for the weigh-in festivities. Michael Buffer, George Wallace, Thomas Hearns and a few other folks are currently warming up the crowd. Hearns is looking dapper in a pinstriped suit.

Buffer also calls out to Joe Calzaghe before bringing Richard Schaefer onto the stage.

Time for the fighters in the co-feature to step on the scales. Jose Miguel Cotto comes out, followed by young Saul Alvarez. no comments

Floyd "Money" Mayweather

Birthplace: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Resides: Las Vegas, Nevada
Age: 33
Height: 5' 8"
Reach: 72"
Current World Titles Held: None
Former World Titles Held: WBC Super Featherweight (130 lbs.), Ring Magazine, WBC Lightweight (135 lbs.), WBC Light Welterweight (140 lbs.), Ring Magazine, WBC, IBF Welterweight (147 lbs.), WBC Light Middleweight (154 lbs.)
Professional Record: 40-0, 25 KOs
Record in World Title Fights: 18-0, 9 KOs
Record in Fights Going 12 Rounds: 11-0
Record at 147 lbs.: 5-0, 2 KOs

Notable Wins: UD12 Juan Manuel Marquez, TKO10 Ricky Hatton, SD12 Oscar De La Hoya

"Sugar" Shane Mosley

Birthplace: Lynwood, California
Resides: Pomona, California
Age: 38
Height: 5' 9"
Reach: 74"
Current World Titles Held: WBA Welterweight
Former World Titles Held: IBF Lightweight, WBC Welterweight, WBC, WBA Light Middleweight
Professional Record: 46-5, 39 KOs
Record in World Title Fights: 15-5, 12 KOs
Record in Fights Going 12 Rounds: 5-5
Record at 147 lbs.: 10-3, 6 KOs

Notable Wins: TKO9 Antonio Margarito, TKO6 Fernando Vargas II, UD12 Oscar De La Hoya II
Notable Losses: UD12 Miguel Cotto, UD12 Winky Wright I, UD12 Vernon Forrest I no comments

At least I think so, because he was going to release The Champ is Here 3, his new mixtape with Jadakiss, on March 13 so it would come out the same day as the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight. Forced to reconsider when the megafight fell apart, GL decided on... May 1, so it would drop Mayweather-Shane Mosley fight day.

Not sure what, if anything, the mixtape will actually have to do with the sweet science, but you could do worse than listening to some new hip hop to get you psyched for the big fight. Maybe the Evil Genius will have some more info here before Saturday morning.

It serves me right for saying something nice about Carl Froch.

I've always thought The Cobra was insufferably smug, but as I said yesterday, I was impressed with the way he handled himself in the aftermath of his decision loss to Mikkel Kessler. Now Steve Cofield of Yahoo! Sports has made me rethink my stance on Froch yet again because of his threat to quit the Super Six. no comments