On Saturday night in front of a Vegas crowd, Sugar Shane Mosley reiterated that in boxing, speed kills. Mosley beat Fernando Vargas to the punch enough times to stop "El Feroz" in the tenth round of their action-packed middleweight fight.

    From round one on, Mosley's right hand found a home on the left side of Fernando Vargas' face. Vargas landed his share of punches, but Mosley frequently out landed Vargas during the fight's exchanges.

    Mosley dazzled the Mandalay Bay crowd in the early rounds. Lightning fast combinations conjured up memories of Mosley's dominant reign in the lightweight division. Particularly notable was an on-target overhand right in round one that prompted immediate swelling over Vargas' left eye.

    Sugar Shane kicked off the second round impressively, throwing triple left hands - and scoring with many of them. Vargas did not seem to find a groove until round four when he staggered Mosley with an overhand right.

    Moving into the middle rounds of the fight, Vargas stalked Mosley, while Sugar Shane focused on timing the oncoming Vargas. By round eight, the swelling over and around Vargas' left eye became outrageously pronounced. Still, Vargas gave the referee and the ringside doctor plenty of reasons to pause while considering stopping the fight. Stepping up his offense, Vargas fought well enough that he plausibly could have won two of the fight's final rounds.

    But nothing, especially Fernando's closed left eye could stop Mosley's right from hitting Vargas on the left side of his head. Rounds nine and ten gave evidence that Vargas could not see from his left eye as Mosley landed a great deal of what he threw. Strangely, Vargas' corner coached its one-eyed fighter on using defensive tactics instead of urging Vargas to unload everything in his arsenal before a possible stoppage.

    By round 10, Vargas' eye and ballooned to cartoonish proportions. After seeing Vargas' swelled eye absorb one last right hand shot from Mosley, referee Joe Cortez put a halt to the action.

    Besides being quicker than Vargas, Shane also looked more athletic. Mosley finally appeared comfortable with the musculature that he developed during his ascent up the weight classes. Mosley's elusiveness spared him from taking many Vargas left hooks. And Mosley's greater lateral mobility gave him more angles to use against Vargas. At 28, Vargas appeared to have lost some of the maneuverability that he had in his heyday. Conversely, Sugar Shane looked younger than his 34 years of age on Saturday night. Mosley's high-energy offensive in the late rounds enabled him to close the show. Superior conditioning helped pave the way to a key victory against Vargas, and it has put Mosley back into boxing's spotlight. Plenty of eyes will be watching when Mosley the veteran moves onto his next challenge.