Shane Mosley

For Pomona's Shane Mosley, Saturday night marked the first return to the scene of his greatest victory, a thrilling split decision over Los Angeles' favorite boxer, Oscar De La Hoya in 2000. A massive Staples Center crowd of 20,820 relished the pre-fight festivities as Mosley entered to T.I./Rihanna's "Live Your Life," and Tijuana's Antonio Margarito came in as a traditional Mexican song played, bowing to the crowd with his arms folded in front of him.

Certainly, the bows to the record-setting Staples Center crowd were a treat, but it was minutes later in a quieter celebration that Shane Mosley received what qualified as the best ovation of all. His beaming promoter, Richard Schaefer, hugged Mosley and whispered into his ear: "I will start having conversations with Team Mayweather tomorrow morning," Schaefer said.

Boxing always promotes the physical. Muscle over mind. Testosterone over thinking. Nothing wrong with that. It's not supposed to be bridge or chess. You don't bring tea and crumpets. You bring smelling salts and sutures. But every once in awhile, state of mind can play as big a role in the outcome as state of mayhem. A case could be made for that when Shane Mosley fights Antonio Margarito in a welterweight title bout Saturday night at Staples Center.

All hail to Shane Mosley. On a night when he was expected to get run over by a Brink's truck, he cashed in instead. In his ninth-round knockout of Antonio Margarito, he turned the Tijuana Tornado into a harmless squall. This wasn't a boxing match, it was a boxing lesson. Mosley was supposed to lose this welterweight title fight Saturday night. To the victor went the World Boxing Assn. belt at 147 pounds.

The Memphis Grizzlies confirmed Wednesday they have agreed in principle to a contract with Allen Iverson , hours after the guard said on Twitter he was heading to Memphis. The team scheduled a news conference today at FedExForum. Iverson would become the highest-profile player ever to put on a Grizzlies uniform. "We anticipate signing him to a contract very soon," Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace said. The New Orleans Hornets agreed to trade reserve point guard Antonio Daniels and a 2014 second-round draft pick to Minnesota in exchange for forward Darius Songaila and guard Bobby Brown . Ronny Turiaf had a double-double and Tony Parker had 17 points to help France beat defending champion Russia, 69-64, and finish the group phase undefeated at the European basketball championship in Warsaw.

In a time of national gloom and doom, boxing is having one of its happier moments. Tonight's Antonio Margarito-Shane Mosley fight at Staples Center is just the centerpiece, the reason to show up for dinner. The good stuff is the appetizers and dessert. Margarito is the World Boxing Assn. welterweight champion, which means nothing except to the people who collect sanctioning fees at the WBA. Some flunkie will follow Margarito around the ring before the fight, holding his WBA belt high.