Ricardo Mayora is boxing's greatest villain, and he's a classic villain at that. Sure, he'll thunder his way through the riff-raff, but generally speaking, give him a real challenge against a top guy, and we can all be pretty sure he's going down. Like Gargamel or Dr. Claw, we know that by the time our half hour is up, the good guy will prevail, and the bad guy will be back to fight another day.
I know I've chided the silly actions of fighters like Bernard Hopkins before, but part of that stems from me thinking B-Hop is too good for all that mess. Mayorga? This is exactly who Ricardo is. On a very limited amount of boxing skill, Mayorga has crafted a long-running, successful career. Just when you think he might be down for the count, he comes back somehow. Spewing personal venom at Oscar de la Hoya got him manhandled by a superior fighter, but he fought Fernando Vargas at a blown-up 164 pounds and sent the Mexican warrior into retirement. Now, he's back to fight Shane Mosley.
He has made promises that he'll take Mosley out in three rounds:
"This is going to be a short fight, like in the amateurs, only three rounds. This will be Shane's permanent return home because the old lady needs a home. ... I'll be the man that night and he'll be my woman...I'm from the country where we only breed men..."
Mosley, predictably, is just laughing Mayorga off. What else would he do? Respond? Get angry? If Mayorga goes after Mosley's wife or kids, as he did with Oscar, then maybe Shane will get mad.
Ricardo is all for show. He's also taken some shots at WBA welterweight titleholder Antonio Margarito:
"Who is he? Who is he? A mariachi guy? A taxi driver? I don't know him."
You have to admire one thing about Mayorga, if nothing else, and if you're sick of hearing him talk, then I can't blame you. But the thing is this: he will fight anyone. He will sell that fight to the best of his ability. And he's so nuts when in the ring that he actually does go ahead and stick his chin out for his opponent to give him their best shot. He did it with Trinidad (which wound up with Tito kicking the crap out of him) and he says he'll do it with Mosley.
Mayorga has made a career out of beating Vernon Forrest two times and being the best s***-talker this business has seen perhaps since Muhammad Ali. The difference? Obviously, Ali usually backed up his boasts. Mayorga rarely does.
But he'll put on a show when Shane beats the hell out of him on September 27, I'm sure of that. If Mayorga beats Mosley, end the Upset of the Year voting, because that would be it.