By Ian S Palmer
American Shane Mosley will be taking on Ricardo Mayorga of Nicaragua in a long-awaited rematch this Saturday, August 29th at the Forum in Inglewood, California. The 12-round junior middleweight bout is being presented on pay per view by Integrated Sports in North America, while fans in Britain can catch the action live on BoxNation. Mosley stopped Mayorga in the 12th round of their first fight back in 2008.
The 43-year-old Mosley will climb into the ring with a record of 47-9-1 along with 39 Kos while the 41-year-old Mayorga is 31-8-1 with 25 Kos. Both fighters are ageing and past their prime and it’s unclear how the bout ended up on pay per view. Sales must be lagging since the two boxers staged a fake brawl at a recent press conference to help sell some tickets and television orders. The fight was almost canceled when promoter Don King tried to block it in court after saying Mayorga was still under contract to him, but the judge threw the case out. Mayorga claims his signature on the contract with King was actually forged by the promoter.
Mayorga’s last big bout came back in 2011 when he was stopped by Miguel Cotto. The former two division world champion returned to boxing late last year and has beaten a couple of Grade B opponents in Allen Medina and Andrik Saralegui since then and stopped both of them. Perhaps those knockouts gave him the confidence to step back into the ring with Mosley. As for Mosley, he retired back in November of 2013 after he was stopped by Anthony Mundine of Australia. Mosley’s a former world champions in several weight classes and is best known for a pair of wins over Oscar De La Hoya. Things started to unravel though after Floyd Mayweather beat him by unanimous decision in May of 2010.
As well as losing to Mundine in the seventh round, Mosley also lost 12-round decisions to Manny Pacquiao and Saul Alvarez since Mayweather beat him while he managed to win a unanimous decision over Pablo Cesar Cano and fought to a 12-round draw against Sergio Mora. After 22 months out of the ring, Mosley said he’s in top shape and has no ring rust. It appears he’s fighting Mayorga because they have a score to settle and it could still end up being an entertaining contest if they both let their hands go. The two have been mouthing off to each other via Twitter for quite some while now and if they can back up their trash talking in the ring then the fans may get their money’s worth.
Mayorga has boxed 250 rounds since turning pro in 1993 and has a knockout ratio of 61 per cent. He’s 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch reach, but as lost most of his big-name fights to the likes of Mosley, De La Hoya, Cotto, Felix Trinidad and Cory Spinks. He did manage a pair of victories over former world champ Vernon Forrest though. Mosley also turned pro in 1993 and has 417 rounds under his belt. He’s half an inch shorter than Mayorga, but his 71-inch reach gives him a two-inch advantage. Mosley’s knockout ratio stands at 67 per cent.
Prediction
Mosley has been in a downward spiral since 2010, but he should be motivated against Mayorga due to his opponent’s agitating nature. Mosley scored a last-second stoppage in their first fight, which was fairly entertaining. This contest should also be competitive and it could feature another late knockout by Mosley or he takes it by decision.
