CORNERED AT LAST

The seemingly endless buildup, the bragging and the fist waving for tonight’s welterweight title fight at Staples Center between Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley are finally, mercifully about to end.

All we are left with is one question: Who’s going to win?

Everything else has been said.

The battle lines between De La Hoya’s East L.A. and Mosley’s Pomona have been set.

The debate between Staples Center officials and the California State Athletic Commission over tax relief for big events such as this has been waged.

The importance of tonight’s fight--the biggest financially in L.A. history--for the future of big-time boxing here has been established.

We have watched De La Hoya, 27, take the high road from the very beginning, catapulting his way from a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics to a high-profile professional career. Brilliantly promoted by Bob Arum, De La Hoya has earned about $130 million in the ring, millions more in endorsements and an esteemed position as a role model for the Hispanic community.

We have seen Mosley, 28, take a lower road after failing to make the ’92 Olympic team, often barely noticed in the early stages of his pro career because of poor promotion, little-known opponents and an ill-advised decision to fight mostly on the East Coast. His career began to take off after he signed with promoter Cedric Kushner in 1996.

We have been witness to a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of both fighters in the last year.

After winning his first 32 fights, De La Hoya lost his World Boxing Council welterweight title in a controversial match against Felix Trinidad last September. Ahead on points and inflicting heavy damage, De La Hoya backed away for the last three rounds, giving Trinidad a majority decision.

Mosley, after making eight successful defenses of his International Boxing Federation lightweight title, leaped up two weight classes and beat welterweights Wilfredo Rivera and Willy Wise to improve to 34-0 and set up tonight’s showdown for both the WBC and International Boxing Assn. titles.

We have heard over and over again about De La Hoya’s resolve to put the Trinidad loss behind him by getting four knockouts this year, the second of which would come tonight after his easy victory over Derrell Coley in February.

We have heard over and over again about Mosley’s resolve to finally supplant his longtime rival by slugging his way out from under De La Hoya’s large shadow.

We have heard from Arum and Kushner; from De La Hoya’s trainer, Robert Alcazar; and Mosley’s trainer, his father, Jack.

And, despite the Lakermania that has gripped this city, the message has gotten through. Close to all 20,000 seats at Staples Center have been sold for tonight and an estimated 800,000 homes will buy the fight via pay-per-view.

So the winner is . . .

Boiling it down to a single sentence, tonight’s fight matches De La Hoya’s size, power and experience against Mosley’s speed, movement and determination.

Size: De La Hoya certainly has it and knows how to use it. At 5 feet 11, De La Hoya is a big welterweight who has been able to keep opponents at arm’s length, minimizing the number of blows he has taken while scoring with his own. Mosley says he is 5-9 but appears to be barely 5-8. “It says 5-9 on my driver’s license,” he said. Advantage: De La Hoya.

Power: De La Hoya has the most devastating left hand in boxing, whether he is using it to jab, hook or uppercut. Mosley is an effective body puncher, but with only two fights at 147 pounds, he has yet to experience the force he’ll face tonight. Advantage: De La Hoya.

Experience: If Mosley is nervous, he’s a great actor. He has seemed so relaxed and excited this week, a smile perpetually plastered across his face, that it seems as though he, not De La Hoya, has been through these draining megafights before. It remains to be seen, however, if that smile survives tonight when Mosley steps into a pressure cooker unlike any he has ever been in. Advantage: De La Hoya.

Speed: De La Hoya has always been able to combine his power with dazzling speed, but even he can’t match the quick hands of Mosley. Advantage: Mosley.

Movement: Mosley combines that speed with footwork that will make him the most difficult target De La Hoya has ever had to draw a bead on. Advantage: Mosley.

Determination: De La Hoya has a lot going for him these days, from his burgeoning singing career to his growing list of endorsements. He admits that he has had to push himself like never before in training camp. For Mosley, there is nothing but boxing. A gym rat all his life, he has had to suffer in silence while De La Hoya grabbed the headlines and the big money. Mosley has had this day circled in his mind for years. Advantage: Mosley.

Ring generalship: De La Hoya has not shown the ability to adjust his style as a fight progresses. Alcazar says De La Hoya has sometimes ignored his advice in the past. Some would say that is a good thing. Mosley, on the other hand, listens to everything his father says in the corner, has a large arsenal of weapons and the instinct for focusing on those that are proving most effective at the time. Advantage: Mosley.

With all that considered, here’s how the fight figures to go:

The Early Rounds

Seeing the two of them facing each other, the size difference becomes more obvious than ever.

Mosley comes out determined and aggressive. The years of waiting for this moment, the sight of seeing the man he has dreamed of beating in front of him and his natural high-energy level combine to make Mosley a furious boxing machine, constantly moving, punching, coming forward, a thoroughbred streaking out of the starting gate.

De La Hoya, his normal patient, analytical self, stays back, gauges Mosley’s speed and power, and gives up a few rounds in order to zero in on a game plan.

By rounds three and four, De La Hoya is winning the jab war. He is concerned about Mosley’s superior speed and movement, but Mosley has some concerns of his own after he feels the power of De La Hoya’s left hand, power that wobbles Mosley as he has never been wobbled before.

The Middle Rounds

The time for analysis is over. De La Hoya takes the role of aggressor and wins several rounds in impressive fashion.

A left uppercut drops Mosley for the first time in his career.

But he gets up and makes a fight of it, inflicting some damage of his own by moving through De La Hoya’s stinging, cutting jabs to land several jarring body shots.

The most damage to De La Hoya is done by a Mosley right hand, delivered as a counter punch to a De La Hoya jab. Mosley causes blood to form in De La Hoya’s left eye, the eye that seems to sustain damage in nearly every fight.

The Final Rounds

It’s decision time for De La Hoya. He is comfortably ahead on points, as he was against Trinidad, but hasn’t forgotten his prediction of a knockout victory.

If he moves in now, he will lose, the punishing body shots of Mosley finally wearing him down and out.

Instead, common sense takes over and De La Hoya is content to jab away, leaving a frustrated Mosley on the outside.

The final bell rings.

De La Hoya’s hand is raised. He has won the battle of L.A. on a unanimous decision.

*

Weighty Matters

Shane Mosley won the weigh-in; Laila Ali had it way too easy. D10