04.05.06 – By Thomas Scherr: Many are wondering why Oscar De La Hoya, after such a long lay off of 20 months, would choose to fight a fighter as dangerous as Ricardo Mayorga. No doubt, Mayorga is a dangerous fighter due to his unorthodox style and tremendous power. Also, Mayorga, while 32 years old, is not nearly as ring worn as De La Hoya, who is now had over 40 professional fights against top level fighters, such as Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad, Bernard Hopkins and Fernando Vargas.. Having said that, Oscar is an astute business man and maybe he knows something that boxing fans do not.
An internet boxing radio personality recently revealed on his radio show that Mayorga has not been training seriously for his upcoming fight and is only sparring four rounds every other day or so. While “El Matador” has always had a reputation for a wavering work ethic and reportedly rarely trains hard for fights, if this rumour turns out to be true, then Mayorga is even more work shy than usual for the most important fight of his career.
From my perspective, Oscar De La Hoya selected Ricardo Mayorga for his comeback fight for the same reason Felix Trinidad selected Mayorga for his comeback. That is, Mayorga is a big name in boxing circles, yet he has not looked good in recent fights and appears to have put on weight, which seems to have effected his stamina. For instance, in Mayoraga’s fight with Trinidad in October 2004, Trinidad ruthlessly beat Ricardo Mayorga for eight rounds until the referee was finally forced to stop the bout. It wasn’t just that, though, it was the way that Mayorga seemed to almost give up, following the 2nd round of the fight, when Trinidad started hurting him with monstrous shots to the head. Going into the fight, Trinidad had been away from the ring for over two years, yet he looked like a top 5 pound for pound fighter against Mayorga. On a side note: seven months after this fight, Trinidad was soundly beaten by Winky Wright, in a fight where Trinidad did not win a single round.
Many are calling for Mayorga to upset the “Golden Boy”, but from what I see, I think Mayorga only has a punchers chance against a prepared and focused Oscar. Still, Mayorga could land a lucky punch in the first few rounds, but Oscar is a well rounded fighter who rarely takes unnecessary punishment. By round four, Mayorga’s power will begin to wane due to his lack of conditioning as it did against Trinidad, and Oscar will begin to technically dominate the fight. While I don’t think that De La Hoya has the punching power to dispose of the durable Nicaraguan, he should be able to pound out a decision victory with relative ease.
When Oscar De La Hoya first stepped into the 154 lbs weight class, he fought a Spaniard named Javier Castillejo. Castillejo was durable fighter with knockout power and the WBC light middleweight title. Oscar De La Hoya outworked the aging fighter en route to an easy 12 round decision. Of course, that was five years ago, and De La Hoya has aged somewhat since then. Furthermore, Oscar has lost twice during that time to Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley, while winning a close controversial decision to Felix Sturm, in a fight that many people thought that De La Hoya had lost. However, I still feel that De La Hoya has enough left to defeat Mayorga and take away his WBC title.