Three of the four fighters who will be featured on Saturday’s excellent doubleheader on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING participated in a workout Wednesday that was open to the media and public. It was held at the TKO Boxing Gym in Anaheim, Calif.
Ricardo Mayorga
Mayorga Pulls Out Of Angulo Bout
By Jim Dower: Light middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo (14-0, 11 KOs) received some bad news this week in the form of former welterweight champion Ricardo Mayorga (28-7-1, 22 KOs) suddenly pulling out of their February 14th bout due to an injury that Ricardo sustained in training camp. The fight, if it had gone ahead, would have potentially given Angulo’s still young career a big shot in the arm had he been able to defeat Mayorga in an impressive manner.
News: Campbell-Funeka, Angulo-Mayorga, Cintron-Martinez
Unified lightweight world champion Nate “Galaxxy Warrior” Campbell (32-5-1, 25 KOs) gave a stern warning to International Boxing Federation No. 1-Ranked lightweight mandatory challenger Ali “Rush Hour” Funeka (30-1, 25 KOs) at a Don King-hosted press conference at BankAtlantic Center today promoting their Valentine’s Day meeting in South Florida.
Angulo vs. Mayorga on February 14th
By Jim Dower: Unbeaten light middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo (14-0, 11 KOs) will face two-time welterweight and former light middleweight champion Ricardo Mayorga (28-7-1, 2 KOs) on February 14th, a fight that will likely be a war from the opening bell. Angulo, 26, a former 2004 Olympian for the Mexican amateur team, is one of the hottest stars in the boxing world, and has already beaten quality light middleweights like Richard Gutierrez, Andrey Tsurkan and Archak TerMeliksetian, showing a lot of power and a high work rate that reminds many fans of a harder punching version of welterweight Antonio Margarito.
Mosley Defeats Mayorga In Last Second TKO
By Aaron Klein: Looking like only a shell of his former self, Shane Mosley (45-5, 38 KOs) stopped Ricardo Mayorga (28-7-1, 22 KOs) in the final second of the 12th round to win the WBA Inter-Continental light middleweight title on Saturday night at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. At the time of the fight, Mosley, 37, was ahead on the two of the three judges’ scorecards. However, don’t be fooled by that, because Mosley appeared to be well behind in the fight, perhaps as much as eight by my scorecard.
Mayorga was by far the better fighter and was roughing an old-looking Mosley up, outworking him in virtually every round of the fight, and land the much harder shots. However, in the 12th round, Mayorga got sloppy and was dropped by a right hand with 15 seconds to go in the round. Mayorga got up, took a standing eight count and then was hit by several more big shots, and was sent down for the final time with a nice left hand from Mosley. The referee David Mendoza then stopped the bout at 2:59 of the 12th round.
Mayorga-Mosley: “Thirty Is The New Twenty” – Shane
By Jason Kim: I don’t know whether or not he’s deceiving himself or if he knows something that we don’t know, but the 37 year-old Shane Mosley (44-5, 37 KOs) believes that he’s going to be back among the top fighters in boxing if he defeats former welterweight champion Ricardo Mayorga (29-6-1, 23 KOs) tonight at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. This bout has war written all over, with neither fighter a guarantee lock to come out the victor at this point. It’ll be a case of whether Mosley’s speed and brilliance will match up well with Mayorga’s power and size, and youth.
Coming off a nearly a year away from boxing, Mosley will be a year older, and it’s a big question mark how much he’ll have left tonight. He had a hard fight in his last bout, a 12-round decision loss to Miguel Cotto, and he may have been used up somewhat from that fight. Although the year off may help him somewhat because he hasn’t been forced to take hard punches, but he’s beginning to show his age despite what he says about “thirty is the new twenty.”
Mosley-Mayorga: Both Looking Past Each Other
By Manuel Perez: Four-time champion Shane Mosley (44-5, 37 KOs) tries to kick start his lagging career against former three-time champion Ricardo Mayorga (29-6-1, 23 KOs) who also hopes to reignite a failing career on Saturday night in a non-title bout at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. Mosley who’s been out of action licking his wounds since last being defeated by welterweight Miguel Cotto in November 2007, is counting on a victory over Mayorga so that Mosley can keep alive his goal of facing WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito at some point in the future.
As for Mayorga, he’s hoping that Oscar De La Hoya will give him a rematch someday so that Mayorga can try to avenge his 6th round TKO loss to him from May 2006. However, the chances of facing De La Hoya again are about zero. Mayorga has trained hard for this fight, and in recent photos he looks lean and in the best shape he’s been in years. That doesn’t mean that he’ll necessarily fight well against Mosley because Mayorga, 34, has a lot of miles on him, and has twice been stopped in the past two years, once by De La Hoya and another time by Felix Trinidad.
Mosley-Mayorga on Saturday: Shane Wants Margarito Next – Latest Boxing News
By Eric Thomas: it pays off sometimes to be ambitious, but in Mosley’s case it may turn out to hurt him. He wants a fight with World Boxing Association welterweight champion Antonio Margarito next, that is, if Mosley is successful in defeating former two-time champion Ricardo Mayorga (29-6-1, 23 KOs) this Saturday at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. A fight with the bigger, taller Margarito would almost be suicidal for the smaller Mosley no matter what at what point of his career, but now that he’s 37 and not as active in the ring that he used to be, it’s a move doomed for failure.
However, first things first, he’s got Mayorga, 34, to worry about this Saturday night. At one time in his career, in 2003, the offensively unorthodox Mayorga was arguably the best welterweight on the planet bar none. Although some might argue that Mosley or Oscar De La Hoya would have perhaps been able to beat him during this time, I tend to doubt it seriously, and think they would have been beaten soundly by him at this stage in his career.
Mosley vs. Mayorga: If Successful, Shane Wants Margarito
By Tim Neilson: In a stay busy fight, former lightweight, welterweight and light middleweight champion Shane Mosley (44-5, 37 KOs) will be taking on former welterweight and light middleweight champion Ricardo Mayorga (29-6, 23 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout on September 27th, at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. Mosley, 36, is hoping to use a victory over the 34 year-old Mayorga as ammunition to get a fight with WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito after that. That seems more wishful thinking at this point for Mosley, who has done little is the past six years, losing six out of his last twelve fights during this stretch of time.
Margarito, if truly desperate, might take on a fighter like Mosley given his still popular name among boxing fans, but he’s clearly not the most marketable fighter out there for Margarito at this time. If Margarito does end up facing Mosley, one would believe it would only come after exhausting all other potential opponents in the welterweight or junior middleweight divisions in which to face. Mosley, at one time – in between 2000 to 2001- was arguably the top fighter in the welterweight division and pound-for-pound the top fighter in boxing.
Mayorga To Move Back Down To 147: “Im Coming After Cotto”
Shortly after defeating Fernando Vargas on Saturday night and subsequently sending him into retirement, Mayorga, 34, announced that he’s moving back down to the welterweight division – 147 lbs – in hopes of fighting Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather jr. On the surface, Mayorga seems almost delusional, as neither of these two fighters will likely waste their time fighting a low level fighter like Mayorga, considering it would be a fight the general public would have little interest, even with Mayorga’s usual wild man act before hand.