Mayorga Has a Sweet Tooth

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 08.07.2008

"El Matador" guns for "Sugar" Shane Mosley on September 27th.


Photo by Tom Hogan

Love him or hate him, there's no denying that Ricardo "El Matador" Mayorga is always in an exciting fight; not to mention press conference. Though he's 3-3 in his last six fights, those fights have been against Fernando Vargas, Oscar De La Hoya, Michelle Piccirillo, Felix Trinidad, Eric Mitchell and Cory Spinks – not exactly a soft schedule. Though Mayorga is better know for his pre-fight antics, more notably in his brawl with Fernando Vargas last year, Mayorga has been able to not only get under his opponent's skins but has proven that he can at least sometimes, back up what he says.

No one in their right mind thought the he would knockout Vernon Forrest in 2003 and most experts believed he'd falter in the rematch later than year, but Mayorga won a majority decision. Sure greater fighters such as Trinidad and De La Hoya have been able to derail the train known as Ricardo Mayorga but that isn't necessarily an easy task. Now with Sugar Shane Mosley on his sights, Mayorga looks to take on yet another former world champion and if the old adage of "beating the man who beat the man" rings true, then perhaps it isn't completely out of the question that Mayorga may have something up his sleeve for Mosley, who lost twice to the same Vernon Forrest, Mayorga took care of.

Recently a press conference was held in Los Angeles to officially announce Mosley vs. Mayorga at the Home Depot Center on September 27 and as usual, Mayorga had plenty to say.

"Fernando Vargas and all of his supporters in Southern California told me I couldn't back up the talk in November but I did. I will do to Mosley exactly what I did to Vargas or even worse. Mosley will have to prove to me he can stand up and fight the way Vargas tried to do."

"I brought a gift for Shane today, a pair of Pink boxing gloves to match his Pink trunks he will be wearing on September 27, better yet he could be my little green-eye girlfriend."

Conventional wisdom will tell you that Mayorga's best chance is for Mosley to trade with him even though Shane's superior punching speed could be too much. Still, we've seen Mosley tagged by Forrest, and Forrest knocked out by Mayorga, so who's to say that Mayorga couldn't hurt Mosley with one of those wild left hooks or overhand rights. Shane has shown that he's willing to stand toe-to-toe , even in his most recent fight, a November 2007 loss to Miguel Cotto and so it's certainly possible that, should Mayorga get under his skin, we could see Shane go for broke which could be costly. To his credit, we did see Ricardo Mayorga box pretty well against Fernando Vergas last year, showing that he could mix up some boxing with his usual brawling style.

Regardless of how the fight unfolds, you can bet that Mayorga will make the most of his time and opportunity in another big fight and if Mosley can get taken off track by Mayorga's mouth, then perhaps "El Matador" will experience the sweet "Sugar-y" taste of victory.