Shane Mosley could only manage a draw against a tentative Sergio Mora in their 12-round light-middleweight contest.
Veteran draws with Mora in Los Angeles bout
American Shane Mosley could only manage a draw against a tentative Sergio Mora in their 12-round light-middleweight contest in Los Angeles.
The 39-year-old (46-6-1) was hoping to propel himself back into the world title picture after suffering a lopsided defeat to Floyd Mayweather in May.
But he was unable to outpoint compatriot Mora (22-1-2) in a defensive battle that saw both fighters booed by the crowd in the Staples Center.
Mosley did start the fight on the front foot as his opponent - a former WBC world title holder - focused on staying out of trouble and often used clinching tactics.
Aggression waned
In the middle rounds, Mora countered as Mosley's aggression began to wane but the former welterweight king then took control again later in the fight.
At the end of the 12 rounds, one judge gave the fight to Mosley 116-112, another scored it 115-113 in Mora's favour while the third saw it level at 114-114.
Mosley had a significant edge in the CompuBox punch statistics, landing 161 of 522 punches thrown to Mora's 93 of 508, though he did not complain that he was not awarded the win.
"We both fought hard. It was good fight, a good decision," he said.
Mora claimed he could have stepped his performance up a gear but chose to go easy on Mosley as he thought he had the fight comfortably in the bag.
He said: "I should've listened to my corner. They were telling me that it was a close fight. I thought I was winning, so I didn't fight as hard because I have respect for Shane. I didn't want to hurt him."
