Let’s get right to the point. Jr. middleweight Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga, 29-6-1 (23), has about as much chance of beating “Sugar” Shane Mosley as 82 year old Cloris Leachman has of winning “Dancing with the Stars.” But they meet anyway this Saturday night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California in a card to be telecast on HBO World Championship Boxing.
It could have been worse. Originally this was a PPV fight.
The only possible “hook” I can see to sell this turkey is that Mosley, 44-5 (37), who has been campaigning as a welterweight recently is moving back to 154 for the fight. So, an enterprising publicist could try to sell the possibility that Mayorga is naturally stronger and is a dangerous puncher. Best of luck on the sales pitch, but on his best day Mayorga would be out of his league with Mosley.
In fact, Mayorga is one of the most overrated fighters of the recent era. He seems to be the go to guy for fighters who need an impressive victory over a recognizable name to get their careers back on track.
Felix Trinidad found him to be the perfect foil (TKO 8), and Oscar De La Hoya did too, (TKO 6). Fernando Vargas apparently liked the strategy and even set up the match at 164 pounds no less. But it was too late for Vargas and he lost a majority decision. Actually, you could make the case that Dunkin Donuts had more to do with beating Vargas than Mayorga did.
Now it’s Mosley’s turn to use Ricardo for a career surge.
The 34 year old Mayorga’s reputation is built primarily on the fact that he twice defeated Vernon Forrest. You might also mention that Forrest was fighting with one arm, lost by a lucky punch in the first fight, and a bad decision in the second.
The other attraction to Mayorga is his outrageous pre-fight behavior. Some feel he uses these antics to sell tickets and to get himself psychologically motivated. Others feel that he’s simply a fruitcake.
The way he attacks his opponent’s wives and loved ones makes you wonder how he runs his own household. Recently Mayorga was quoted as saying of Mosley, “I’m definitely going to retire him because he deserves to be home washing dishes. His wife is the one that’s in charge. He needs to go home and listen to her.”
See? Only a fruitcake would want to take on Jin Mosley. He has a better shot with Shane.
The 37 year old Mosley is a sure fire Hall of Famer. He’s still a thoroughbred. Mayorga, comparatively, is a claiming horse, although he has managed to be a two division titlist. But seriously the guy is 3-3 in his last six fights and yet every time you turn around he’s being matched with a big time opponent.
You’d think Al Haymon was handling him.
Mosley has been quoted as saying that he wants to fight Antonio Margarito. He gets my vote right there because other than Paul Williams, no one wants to fight that beast. In his last appearance in November, Mosley lost by a whisker to the then undefeated Miguel Cotto, who subsequently lost to Margarito.
And it’s far from a slam dunk for Margarito. Mosley may not be the fighter who twice defeated Oscar De La Hoya anymore, but even an 80% Mosley beats most fighters. His boxing skills and speed would keep him in it until the end of the contest. It would be a very competitive fight, and go the distance.
Unfortunately, Saturday night’s fight will not be quite so competitive, or entertaining for that matter. Look for Mosley to outbox Mayorga for a few rounds before taking him out around round eight.
For what it is worth, Mosley is running at about a 9-1 favorite, so apparently the smart guys see it as a mismatch too.
In the co-feature Al Haymon fighter Andre Berto, 22-0 (19), who seems as if he’s had more HBO appearances than Larry Merchant this year, defends his WBC 147 pound title against Steve Forbes, 33-6 (9). Obviously the Haymon Boxing Organization (HBO) is still a tad reluctant for the 25 year old Berto to take on a real challenge.
It would seem to me that if they had any real faith in him he’d be fighting Mosley for the title.
Berto is like the Gerald Ford of welterweight belt holders. He won a soft eliminator over David Estrada and became #1 contender. Then Floyd Mayweather Jr. surprised everyone by retiring. In what was to be another title eliminator against pushover Miguel Angel Rodriguez, he stopped Rodriguez in the seventh to win what had become a fight for the vacant WBC title.
So there he was, suddenly a belt holder in boxing’s toughest division, questionable chin and all. He may well be the future, but he’s not yet the present. So, of course he’s on HBO again, fighting the likes of Forbes.
It’s not that Forbes is a bad fighter. In fact he was once a 130 pound titlist. But his record of nine stoppages in 39 fights illustrates that Berto’s people are still protecting his chin. Right now Forbes is still capitalizing from the fact that he went the distance with Oscar in May. So naturally Berto will try to take him out. I don’t think he will.
Berto is a 7-1 favorite, so again the odds makers see it as a mismatch. Maybe HBO should hire a bookmaker to help out with the matchmaking.
There have been worse cards, and, in fact, worse is yet to come. But the HBO Fall schedule is weak in general and loaded with PPV shows so we take what we are given and try to make the best of it, even the obvious mismatches.