The highly anticipated match between "Sugar" Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden in New York is being billed "Fast and Furious" by HBO, with Mosley playing the role of "fast" and Cotto the more "furious". But it's Mosley who fits both descriptions, as he is known to let his hands go and do anything it takes to win, while Cotto, though a young, relentless bodypuncher, is no speed demon. On Saturday night when the two meet at the centre of the ring, the winner will be the warrior who wants it more. Simple as that.

Cotto, 30-0 (25), is a young lion, an undefeated fighter from Puerto Rico whose mental focus is as intimidating as it is admirable, a fighter who doesn't know how to lose. Since his professional debut in 2001, Cotto has been on a steady rise to the top, beating consistently better opponents including Carlos Maussa, Randall Bailey, Ricardo Torres, Paulie Malignaggi, and most recently Zab Judah. Cotto's exciting style has to do not only with his strength as a body puncher and left-hooker, but his vulnerability and so-so chin--as exposed by Demarcus Corley Torres, and Zab Judah. Though his methodical 11th round destruction of Judah in a sold-out MSG is his most high-profile victory, his TKO of Torres--a fight in which the victor was knocked down and pushed to the brink--was Cotto's true measure of intestinal fortitude, a test that the young lion passed with flying colours. If Cotto beats Mosley--as he is favoured to--it would put him on a whole new level and set hurtling along a path to the Hall of Fame.

Mosley, 44-4 (37), is no stranger to big fights, having beaten the biggest name in boxing--Oscar De La Hoya--twice. Having only lost to Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright (twice each), Mosley is tough to beat convincingly, and in suffering losses in immediate rematches against the two, one sees how badly Mosley's desire to succeed is. After coming back down from 154 in his two fights against Wright, Mosley fought Fernando Vargas in a match sanctioned as a junior middleweight bout but with Mosley weighing closer to 147. After a convincing TKO win in February of 2006, Mosley scored a virtual one-punch knockout of "El Feroz" in the rematch five months later, flooring Vargas with a perfect left hook. He then went on to decision Luis Coilazo in what was an impressive display of endurance and skill against a much younger fighter. At 36, Mosley is nine years Cotto's senior, but he is fighting younger than his age and appears to have retained most of his blinding speed. And for all the talk of Cotto being a crippling bodypuncher, Mosley is probably the most underrated bodypuncher in the game. "Can Mosley take Cotto's bodyshots?" is an obvious question, but can Cotto take Mosley's? Cotto has never fought a fighter the calibre of Mosley before; Judah was strong and fast, but his fragile psyche was easy pickings for the steely Puerto Rican.

Fight-of-the-year candidates are such because they feature two warriors who will do whatever it takes to win. This is the case with Mosley-Cotto. Both are highly skilled warriors that have exciting styles that will compliment each other perfectly, making fireworks an inevitability. Cotto's strong Puerto Rican fanbase will likely drown out the Mosley-supporters, but the ebb and flow of the fight will make it highly entertaining. Cotto is fighting to stay undefeated. Mosley is fighting to bolster his legacy. Although teh fight is not for the title at 147--that honor belongs to Floyd Mayweather Jr.--the winner will find his name tossed around as a potential opponent for PBF (should he get by Ricky Hatton in December). Mosley would love nothing more than to get a crack at a younger version of himself in Floyd.

But first he has to crack yet another younger version of himself in Cotto.

Prediction: Mosley KO 6