Ricardo Mayorga
(born October 3, 1973 in Managua, Nicaragua), is a Nicaraguan professional boxer. He is the former WBA/WBC Welterweight champion and the former WBC Junior Middleweight champion. He holds a fair record of 29-7 with 23 knockouts and 1 draw. He was featured for the first time on the cover of Ring Magazine on the December 2003 issue, released in October. The cover read "The craziest man in the sport: Mayorga lights up boxing.
"
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RICARDO MAYORGA TICKETS
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Professional career
Early years
Mayorga lost his first professional bout, being beaten by a TKO in the sixth round by
Humberto Aranda in
1993.
He came back in
1994 to win three fights, all by
knockout, including the third round knockout win over
José Morales, which was his first career win.
His first fight in
1995 was also his first fight in Nicaragua, and it was fought for the Nicaraguan Welterweight title. Mayorga won the title when he knocked out
Miguel Pérez in six rounds. After two more knockout wins, he defended it in a rematch with Perez, and the second time, he defeated Perez by a knockout in three.
He then took off three years from boxing, and when he returned, in 1998, he beat
German Espinales by a knockout in four, but in his next bout, he lost a ten round decision to former
Edwin Rosario rival
Roger Flores. After the Flores bout, he fought
Henry Castillo and suffered his second loss in a row, also by decision in ten.
In his next fight, in 1999, he beat
Porfirio Miranda by a knockout in one round. After one more win, he gained revenge against Castillo, defeating him by a knockout in seven, and then he met
Jose Cordova for the Central American Welterweight title. He added that belt by beating Cordova by a decision in twelve.
After one more win, Mayorga went to
Puerto Rico to meet
Cuba's fringe contender
Dyobelis Hurtado, a boxer who had faced
Pernell Whitaker and
Kostya Tszyu in world title tries, among others. Mayorga and Hurtado came up with a technical draw in two rounds, and in his next fight, Mayorga lifted the
WBA's Latin American Jr. Middleweight belt with a two round knockout of
Marcos Avendano. A rematch with Espinales for the
Fecarbox
Welterweight title, brought Mayorga exactly the same result as their first encounter: A four round knockout win, and another minor title belt.
He won seven more fights in a row, including 2 defenses each of his WBA Latin American and Fecarbox belts.
Mayorga Vs. Lewis I & II
On
July 28 of 2001, he challenged the WBA's World Welterweight Champion
Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis at the
Los Angeles Roy Jones Jr.-
Julio César González undercard. The fight was declared a no contest after two rounds because both fighters had cuts opened by a headbutt and they were unable to continue.
However, they had a rematch on
March 3 of 2002 and Mayorga became the fifth Nicaraguan to win a title, by knocking Lewis out in the 5th round. Even though Lewis was very aggressive in the fight, Mayorga was able to withstand his attacks, and sent a flurry of right crosses which sent Lewis crashing to the canvas. As a result, Mayorga was crowned the new WBA's World Welterweight Champion.
Mayorga Vs. Forrest I & II
Mayorga and then WBC Welterweight Champion
Vernon Forrest quickly signed up for a unification bout, and on
January 25, and in front of an
HBO Boxing audience, Mayorga upset most boxing critics and experts by dropping Forrest in round one, and once again in round three, winning the fight by a knockout in the third, and becoming the WBA and WBC's Unified World Champion.
On
July 12, also in front of an HBO boxing audience, Mayorga and Forrest had a rematch, and this time Mayorga retained the title by a 12 round majority decision. Many people were amused that Mayorga stuck his chin out to Forrest. In an interview, he stated why he did that. "
I wanted him to know that he couldn't hurt me,
" Mayorga said with a smirk after the fight. "
I know it's not a wise thing to want to get hit, and Mr. King told me after the fight that he doesn't want to see me doing that again, but it's what I wanted to do at the time. I wanted to let him know that I was the boss, I was his daddy, I was the champ.
"
[1]
Mayorga Vs. Spinks
On
December 13, 2003, Mayorga lost his world titles, to
Cory Spinks, the son of former heavyweight champion
Leon Spinks, by a majority decision in
Atlantic City. This came after Mayorga had made tasteless remarks about Spinks's deceased mother. Mayorga apologized after the fight.
Moving To Junior Middleweight
Mayorga next would have fought for the WBA's version of the world Welterweight title on
April 17,
2004 at
Madison Square Garden in
New York, New York against the
Puerto Rican champion,
José Antonio Rivera. However, Mayorga showed up six pounds over the Welterweight division limit, prompting an unexpected debut at the Jr. Middleweight division instead in which he beat
Eric Mitchell by decision in ten rounds.
Mayorga Vs. Trinidad
Mayorga was in a training camp for an upcoming fight on
October 2 with
Félix Trinidad, but Mayorga was arrested on
September 3, putting his fight with Trinidad in serious jeopardy. However, soon after, he was arrested at
Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, and his lawyer obtained permission for him to leave the country because he was leaving the country for a job that he had been contracted to do. Mayorga resumed his training once he arrived to the
United States, having to face the criminal charges after his fight with Trinidad.
Mayorga dropped Trinidad in round three of their confrontation, but he was dropped himself three times in round eight, the only three times Mayorga had ever been knocked down in his pro career, leading to a technical knockout loss.
Coming Out Of Retirement
On
October 5, 2004, three days after his fight with Trinidad, Mayorga announced his retirement from boxing, but he returned to boxing, and, on
August 13,
2005, Mayorga became a two division world champion by gaining the vacant
WBC world Super Welterweight title with a twelve round unanimous decision over
Michele Piccirillo of
Italy, in
Chicago.
Mayorga vs De La Hoya
On
May 6,
2006 Mayorga lost to
Oscar de la Hoya by TKO in the 6th round. Although
Oscar de la Hoya had been very inactive in the ring, due to the high personal disregard Mayorga had against him, including saying that Oscar's people are behind Mayorga, and comments about his wife,
[2] de la Hoya decided to put the gloves back on and fight Mayorga.
Mayorga vs Vargas
SHOWTIME PPV showcased Ricardo "El Matador" Mayorga in a boxing match against "Ferocious"
Fernando Vargas on November 23, 2007, at a catch-weight of 164-pounds, 10 pounds higher than the Jr. Middleweight limit. Vargas stated that making 154-pounds was "too much for his body to take". It was rumored that Vargas had to melt off close to 100 pounds to make 164 lbs.
[3]
In a closely contested bout, for the WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight title, Mayorga makes his comeback by defeating Vargas by majority decision. The scores were 113-113, 114-112, and 115-111 in favor for Mayorga. Mayorga dominated early in the fight by outbrawling and knocking Vargas down in the 1st round, getting him off balance in the 2nd round, and cutting him open above the right eye by a right hand in the 3rd round. Vargas made a comeback in the middle rounds by hitting Mayorga with left hooks and counter punches. Mayorga regains the upper hand in the closing rounds of the fight by flurring. Mayorga offers a right hand which sends Vargas to the canvas in the 11th round. Vargas was unable to keep up in the 12th round. Post-fight, Vargas officially declared his retirement. Boxing fans were pleased by the fight, and were surprised that the fight went the distance. Boxing critics were shocked by Mayorga's improved performance by seeing a more controlled side of him.
Mayorga vs Mosley
Mosley-Mayorga was originally scheduled for Oct. 11 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Mosley's wife and adviser, Jin Mosley, told ESPN.com.
On July 18, 2008, it was reported on espn.com's quick hits that The fight between Mayorga and Mosley was moved to the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA and set for September 27th because of the Pavlik-Hopkins fight agreement for October 18th on HBO PPV. And the good news for fight fans is that the Mayorga-Mosley bout will not be on HBO PPV anymore but will be telecast on HBO.
Shane Mosley stopped Ricardo Mayorga with one second left in the 12th round of their junior middleweight bout, Mosley led by one point on judge Nelson Vasquez's scorecard and five on Tony Crebs' entering the 12th round. Mayorga had a one-point lead on judge Pat Russell's card. The Associated Press had Mosley ahead by three points entering the 12th.
Mayorga vs Angulo
Mayorga was scheduled to fight undefeated junior-middleweight prospect
Alfredo Angulo on February 14th, 2009 on the undercard of
Nate Campbell's title defense against
Ali Funeka. Mayorga withdrew from the fight, citing injuries to his ribs from the Shane Mosley fight made training very difficult and therefore was unable to make weight. He stated money was not the issue. However, his promoter,
Don King, stated that Mayorga pulled out ten days before the bout after his demands for a higher purse were not met.
[4]
Professional Championships
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References
- Mayorga's comments about Forrest - http://www.hbo.com/boxing/fighters/mayorga_ricardo/bio.html
- Mayorga Vs. De La Hoya press conference
- Mayorga-Vargas fight date - http://fernando-vargas-news.newslib.com/story/7285-61/
- http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog
/index?entryID=3885948&name=rafael_dan