by James Slater – Never a guy to bite his tongue or be afraid of making bold predictions when going into a fight, Nicaraguan wild man Ricardo Mayorga has today declared he will knock out Sugar Shane Molsey in just 3 rounds this coming Saturday in Los Angeles. As reported on Fight News, “El Matador” has given Mosley some of the same trash-talk treatment he gave Oscar De La Hoya, Vernon Forrest, Cory Spinks and others when going into fights with them..
“I think it’s going to be a two or three round fight,” Mayorga said of September 27th’s fight. “I’m fighting a guy that’s really smaller than me and he’s weak. He’s not like the big guys I’ve been fighting who were tough. Mosley’s speed is gone already and I still have my power. For this fight I’ve trained very hard and I’m going to prove it on Saturday night. I’m definitely going to retire him because he deserves to be home washing dishes. His wife is the one that’s in charge. He needs to go home and listen to her!”
While Mayorga’s crack about Mosley’s wife and manager Jin Mosley was tasteless, it was nowhere near as bad as some of the vile things he said about Oscar De La Hoya and his wife ahead of their May 2006 bout. De La Hoya punished the trash-talking former welterweight and light-middleweight champion, will Mosley be able to do the same?
Mayorga – while it is extremely unlikely he will make good with his bold prediction, probably one he himself doesn’t even believe will come to fruition – certainly has a genuine puncher’s chance on Saturday. He may be correct, to a degree, when he says Sugar has lost his speed. No, Mosley has in no way lost it all, but he is a touch slower these days than he was in his lightweight/welterweight prime. He can be hit, as Miguel Cotto proved in their great fight last November. And up at 154-pounds, a weight Mosley has not fought at for a couple of years, Mayorga may be able to catch him also.
Make no mistake, this is a risky fight for Mosley. At age 37, should Mayorga get lucky and land a bomb, his career would be over at top level. It would be almost impossible for Shane to get himself back in the position he is in right now, even if he were to avenge the loss. Mayorga, though dangerous and colourful, has been used as something of a punching bag by half of the elite fighters he has met in the last four years or so. Both Felix Trinidad and De La Hoya brutalised him (albeit in entertaining fights in which Mayorga gave his all) and Mosley is expected by most to beat him in pretty much the same style.
Wanting very much to take care of Mayorga and then drop back down to welterweight in the hopes of landing a super-fight with Antonio Margarito, Mosley can forget all about such plans if he even struggles or looks bad on Saturday night. Many will likely call for his retirement if he is beaten. The Nicaraguan is by no means a spring chicken himself at age 34, however, and despite what he says about Mosley’s lack of speed these days there is no way he will be the faster man of hand or foot.
To this writer’s way of thinking, unless Mosley suddenly and shockingly grows old overnight (which is something that could also happen to Mayorga, of course), Mayorga’s only chance is to come out slugging and hope to win the lottery with one of his clubbing shots to the head. With Mayorga adopting these tactics the fight should be exciting while it lasts, but I go for Sugar Shane by TKO in around 8 or 9 rounds. He’ll be dangerous early, but as soon as he runs out of gas Mayorga will be there for Mosley to tee off on. And once again “El Matador” will be made to eat his foolish insults!