Ricardo Mayorga-The New Michael Jordan of Boxing

Photo: DonKing.com

By Fred De La Riva

Crowning the new Michael Jordan.

"If Shane Mosley is the Michael Jordan of boxing, and I beat him, doesn't that make me the Michael Jordan of boxing?" –Vernon Forrest

26.01 - According to the Forrest comment above, the new Michael Jordan of boxing is a cigar smoking, hard punching wild man from Nicaragua. Let me repeat that. The new Michael Jordan of boxing is a cigar smoking, hard punching wild man from Nicaragua.

Has that sunken in yet?

Well if it hasn’t get used to it, because Mayorga, old "number 23" himself is now the WBA Welterweight champ, the WBC Welterweight champ and more importantly, he is now the linear Welterweight champ. He lured Vernon Forrest into a brawl and the Viper paid for it dearly because he broke one of the cardinal rules of boxing to "never punch with a puncher". I imagined a chuckle coming out of Oscar De La Hoya’s mouth as his supposed "next conqueror" was out-slugged by a technically inferior fighter. Several months ago I wrote an article in which I stated that Vernon should not have been considered the de facto King of the Welterweight division based on his victories over Shane Mosley alone. To tell you the truth, I took a lot of heat for it because only a unified champ should have been given that consideration in my opinion. I believed that then and I believe it now. It’s fine to rank divisional champions and Vernon was by far the best in terms of technical skills among the weight’s elite, but disregarding the talents of the other divisional champs was purely arrogant on the public’s and the media’s part. Last night Mayorga gave my statements a bit of credibility so please allow me to gloat. As far as Vernon goes, he is still the division’s top dog, except he now does not hold a belt. Unlike others, I am unwilling to automatically give a fighter the top spot based on one victory. Forrest has the jab and a strong right to keep Mayorga in check should a rematch occur.

Nate Campbell makes his momma proud.

Lost in the shocking upset of Vernon Forrest, was Nate Campbell’s clash with Joel Cassamayor. The still raw 30 year-old gave the Cuban everything he could handle and a busted left eye to boot. What frustrated me about Campbell, was his inability or his refusal to use his left hand. Yes he landed his right to both the head and body consistently, but give me a break. A one-armed fighter cannot outclass a man with Cassamayor’s skills. The Cuban was there for the taking and Campbell came close, but the judges felt differently. I for one thought the fight should have at worst been awarded a draw, but a unanimous decision? One judge had Cassamayor up by an unbelievable six points. From the scores I can only come up with the following conclusions. Two of the three judges were either:

1. On the take
2. Graduated from the Stevie Wonder School of Judging.
3. Too busy sniffing each other’s seat cushions.

I can’t make up my mind. You make the call. I’m leaning towards option # 3 though.

Kostya can your hear me?

In the boxing ring, speed can be a dangerous weapon and it turned out to be the deciding factor against Carlos Vilches of Argentina. Shambra "Hey everybody look at my shorts" Mitchell proved to be too quick and too skilled for the bigger Vilches as he forced the Argentinean’s corner to throw in the towel in the 4^th round. As of late, Mitchell has been telling everyone who has been listening, that he deserves another match with soon to be legend, and current Junior-Welterweight king Kostya Tszyu. That may be, but he needs to stand in line behind other deserving foes such as Gatti, Judah and Corley as there seems to be a plethora of good 140 lb contenders as of late.

The "Unofficial" Official Boxing Awards of the Month.

• The "Most unprofessional action by a member of the media" Award goes to HBO’s own Larry Merchant as he handed Mayorga a cigarette to smoke after his KO victory over Vernon Forrest. Good move there Larry.

• The "I’m in denial" Award goes to Fernando Vargas as he continues to claim that he didn’t have dinner with Oscar De La Hoya. Hey Fernando, did you eat? Was Oscar at the table? You had dinner with Oscar fella. Get over it.

• The "Let’s keep them in suspense" Award goes to the Lewis and Klitschko teams for keeping the boxing public guessing. Are they really going to fight? No one knows. Boy, I haven’t been this excited, since the 50 midgets versus the elephant airplane-pulling contest last week on the Fox Network. For those who do not have access to the Fox Network, I am not making the race up. It really did happen.The elephant won by the way.

• The "See I told you the Grammy nomination wasn’t a fluke and I could do other things" Award goes to Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions as they put on an exciting card at the venerable Olympic Auditorium.

• The "Can’t I ever get an easy match" Award goes to Kostya Tszyu as the supposed "walk in the park" Leija proved to be somewhat troublesome.

Feel free to contact the author at reevee@earthlink.net