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War at 154

Date	March 13, 2004
Venue	Mandalay Bay Events Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBA, WBC, IBF and The Ring undisputed light middleweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer Shane Mosley Ronald Wright Nickname Sugar Winky Hometown Pomona, California, U.S. Washington, D.C., U.S. Purse $2,100,000 $750,000 Pre-fight record 39–2 (1) (35 KO) 46–3 (25 KO) Age 32 years, 6 months 32 years, 3 months Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) Weight 154 lb (70 kg) 154 lb (70 kg) Style Orthodox Southpaw Recognition WBA, WBC and The Ring Light Middleweight Champion The Ring pound-for-pound No. 3 ranked fighter 3-division world champion IBF Light Middleweight Champion The Ring No. 2 Ranked Light Middleweight
Result
Wright wins by unanimous decision (117–111, 117–111, 116–112)

Shane Mosley vs. Winky Wright, billed as War at 154, was a professional boxing match contested on March 13, 2004, for the undisputed light middleweight championship.

Background

After his controversial decision victory in his rematch with Oscar De La Hoya, to win the WBA, WBC, The Ring and lineal light middleweight titles, Shane Mosley agreed a $7 million deal to face Ricardo Mayorga. However, on December 13, Mayorga lost a majority decision to Cory Spinks. He also turned down an offer for a third bout with De La Hoya over the purse split.

Instead Mosley agreed to face IBF champion Ronald "Winky" Wright for the undisputed 154 pound title (in only his third bout at the weight), with the prospect of a $10 million fight against former 3-division champion Félix Trinidad in September if he should beat Wright, with Mosley quoted as saying "I promised myself and my fans that from now on, I would only take career-defining fights. I consider that promise a solemn vow. Winky Wright is for boxing history and personal history. Felix Trinidad is for immortality."

In late 2003 Mosley was subpoenaed by the grand jury investigating the BALCO scandal.

Wright, who had spent his whole career at light middleweight, had won a major world title at the third attempt in October 2001, scoring a unanimous decision over Robert Frazier, having lost to Julio César Vásquez in 1994 and a controversial majority decision defeat to Fernando Vargas in 1999. He had earned a reputation as an unglamorous trickery fighter who presented as a high risk, low reward option that had prevented him from getting the big fights and had meant that he had been forced earlier in his career to travel to Europe to fight. His tricky style and globetrotting career had earned him the nickname "International Man of Misery".

Wright was a 5-to-2 underdog.

The fight

In a fast-paced bout, Mosley was unable to get on the inside of Wright's right jab. The southpaw Wright made it difficult throwing jabs and straight left to both the face and body. Wright consistently beat Mosley to the punch and outfought him. Sensing he was behind, Mosley came out firing for the final round, but Wright fought back just as hard up to the final bell.

At the end of 12 rounds, Judges Dave Moretti and Chuck Giampa scored it 117–111, while Paul Smith had it 116–112 all in favor of Wright.

HBO's unofficial scorer Harold Lederman scored the bout 117–111 for Wright.

According to CompuBox Wright outlanded Mosley, landing with 250 of 761 punches thrown (33% connect rate) to 166 of 618 (27% connect rate) from Mosley.

Aftermath

Speaking after the bout Wright said " fast but I tried to keep him away with the jab, and it worked. He's a very strong fighter but I got my chance and I proved it. If everybody wants it, we can do it again. It's been a long time. I always felt I was better. Shane has speed but I was better all around"

Mosley defend his decision to take the fight and risking the big payday against Trinidad saying "It was not a mistake. I have no regrets. I wanted to find out who was the best in our division. I was fighting for history." He also said he felt weaken in the ring saying "For some reason when I came into the ring I felt like I was dehydrated. I couldn't move. It was a monkey on my back." Mosley graciously claimed that Wright was now one of the best fighters in the world saying "It's not just Sugar Shane, De la Hoya and Trinidad anymore. Now we have Winky Wright."

Mosley's promoter Gary Shaw confirmed that they planned to exercise the rematch cause in the contract.

Just over a month after the bout Wright was stripped of the IBF title after refusing to fight mandatory challenger Kassim Ouma and instead accepting a rematch with Mosley. The light middleweight division would remain split until 2022.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Winner	Loser	Weight division/title belt(s) disputed	Result
Joe Mesi	Vassiliy Jirov	Heavyweight (10 rounds)	Unanimous decision
Non-TV bouts
José Celaya	Richard Hall	Light middleweight (8 rounds)	1st-round KO
Carl Daniels	Rico Cason	Super middleweight (8 rounds)	2nd-round TKO
Vaia Zaganas	Yumi Takano	Strawweight (6 rounds)	Majority Decision
Almazbek Raiymkulov	Luis Alfonso Lizarraga	Light welterweight (6 rounds)	Unanimous decision
Conal MacPhee	Rodney Moore	Cruiserweight (6 rounds)	2nd-round TKO.
Mario Santiago	Luis Alfonso De La Rosa	Featherweight (4 rounds)	Unanimous decision

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
Hungary	Sport 1
United Kingdom	Sky Sports
United States	HBO

References

1. "MOSLEY, SUGAR SHANE-RONALD "WINKY" WRIGHT I OFFICIAL PROGRAM (2004)". josportsinc.com. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
2. "Ronald Wright vs. Shane Mosley (1st meeting)". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
3. Michael Katz (14 January 2004). "BOXING; One Thing or Another Gets in Mosley's Way". The New York Times. Las Vegas. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
4. Steve Kim (10 March 2004). "Is Wright wrong for Mosley?". ESPN. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
5. "Mosley targets Trinidad". BBC. 14 February 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
6. David A. Avila (27 February 2004). "Mosley's Genius Boxing IQ". ESPN. Big Bear Lake. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
7. Vinton, Teri Thompson, Nathaniel (December 3, 2008). "'Sugar' Shane Mosley told grand jury of EPO use". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2019-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
8. Ben Dirs (11 March 2004). "Mosley and Wright risk all". BBC. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
9. "Wright unifies three 154-pound titles". ESPN. Las Vegas. 14 March 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
10. Michael Katz (14 March 2004). "BOXING; Wright, the Underdog, Defeats Mosley". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
11. "Wright stuns Mosley". BBC. 14 March 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
12. Alex Trickett (15 March 2004). "Introducing Winky". BBC. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
13. Michael Katz (15 March 2004). "BOXING; Wright Is Wondering What's Next". The New York Times. Las Vegas. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
14. Cotey, John C. (22 April 2004). "IBF strips Wright of its title". Tampa Bay Times. St. Petersburg, Florida. Retrieved 19 May 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
15. "BoxRec - event".
16. Barry McGuigan (12 March 2004). "EXPECT SUGAR TO SHADE IT - MCGUIGAN". skysports.com. Sky Sports. Archived from the original on 12 June 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2024.

• 2004 in boxing
• 2004 in sports in Nevada
• March 2004 sports events in the United States
• Boxing matches at Mandalay Bay Events Center
• Boxing matches involving Shane Mosley
• Boxing matches refereed by Tony Weeks
• Boxing on HBO
• Boxing on Sky Sports
• Light middleweight championship matches