by James Slater: Former lightweight-welterweight and light-middleweight champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley has certainly picked a risky opponent for his next fight. With his sights still very much on becoming a world champion yet again before his great career is over, Mosley choosing to take on the wildly dangerous yet no longer world class Ricardo Mayorga is quite a surprise..
Beaten almost every time he has stepped up to face the best (his two shock wins over Vernon Forrest being the Nicaraguan’s only truly impressive wins), Mayorga is now looked at as a faded force at top level. But, at the same time, Mayorga remains a very dangerous faded force at top level. Sure, he’s been used as a veritable punching bag by the returning duo that was Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad recently, but the fact remains Mayorga can still punch, is still a wild man and has an unpredictability that could make him a handful for a number of fighters. Will Shane Mosley be one of them?
Mosley is by far the better boxer, the more disciplined fighter and the more talented fighter, but what does he have to gain by taking on Mayorga? If he beats him, the critics may well say, “so what, Trinidad and De La Hoya have already beaten up on Mayorga anyway.” While if Mayorga should get extremely lucky and cause the upset, what then for the 36-year-old Mosley? Again, it’s a strange fight for Mosley to take at this stage of his career.
Normally a shrewd guy when it comes down to who to fight, Mosley, without ever ducking anyone, has almost always fought opponents who his defeating would gain for him something substantial – be it a world title or the right to fight for one. But what will a win over Mayorga get him? The original plan was for Shane to box new WBC light-middleweight champ Sergio Mora, and that fight made sense. This fight was scrapped through no fault of Mosley’s, but “Sugar’s” decision to take the Mayorga fight instead wasn’t really seen coming.
Will the fight even be a success at the box-office? Mayorga, now 34 and with only his November 2007 points win over the also-faded Fernando Vargas to speak of in terms of reasonable wins in the last three years, is no longer a pay-per-view attraction. Not only that, but will “El Matador” even be able to get down to 154 pounds in a manner that leaves him at 100 percent? The Vargas fight took pace at 164 pounds, and Mayorga had to work hard to make that.
The more you look at it, the better it would have been for Mosley to have hung around at welterweight. Surely a big fight would have materialised for him at 147 before too long. In taking the option he has in facing Mayorga, however, Mosley runs the risk of taking part in a fight that, A: not too many fans will want to pay to see, B: could well become an ugly fight with Mayorga giving him fits with his wild man, crazy antics, or C: sees him get caught by a lucky punch and beaten.
But even if Mosley puts on a clinic and beats the living daylights out of Mayorga, what will the effort of doing that have earned him at the end of the day? Of all the fights Shane Mosley has taken in his long and largely successful career, this one ranks right up there with his bad decision to take on Winky Wright back in 2004. But at least there a win would have earned him huge respect for defeating a much avoided boxer. Once again, what will a win over a 34-year-old Mayorga get him?