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Jack Welsh on Boxing
MAYORGA, WITH TNT RIGHT, NEW TERROR AT 147
Even in boxing, uncommon valor can carry an awesome price
and Vernon Forrest learned the hardest way of all in a unification
shootout with upstart Ricardo Mayorga, who returned to Nicaragua
with two wørld championships via a stunning third round TKO.
For Forrest, 31, Atlanta Ga., it was the launching of
a lucrative HBO contract as the undefeated WBC welterweight champion
but in less than nine minutes, the wild-punching Mayorga, 29, from
Managua, Nic., added it to his WBA crown with vicious right hands
at the Pechanga hotel-casino in Temecula, Ca.
The spectacular upset by the 10-1 Mayorga arrived Jan.27,
one day short of a year when Forrest provided his own shocker in
ruining the never-beaten Sugar Shane Mosley’s myth with a
double-knock- down enroute tø a decision for the WBC diadem.
When Forrest repeated the score six months later, it earned this
solid pro the sport‘s prestigious honor as Fighter of The
Year.
Forrest, who also kept Mosley out of the 1992 Barcelona
Olympics with a decision, was obsessed in wrapping up the 147-pound
division and perhaps having a mega-bucks showdown with Oscar De
La Hoya in 2004 at 154-pounds.
Although Mayorga was hardly a house- hold name when he
TKO’d Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis in five rounds
Mar.30, 2002 to collect the WBA title, Forrest viewed him as an
obstacle in his quest to become the division’s undisputed
champion.
Some veteran ring analysts thought the highly-skilled,
disciplined pride of Georgia deserved a comparative breather in
his second defense after twice disposing of Mosley, the Pomona,
Ca., power puncher considered in some precincts as the game’s
premier pound-for-pound performer.
Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, considering
some of the cable network super stars’ stall ploys, found
Forrest’s approach to his craft refreshing, having often declared
“to be the best, you have to fight the best.” And, of
course, Mayorga qualified, coming in with a championship and a 24-3-1,
22 KOs log.
Don King promoted this explosion on Super Bowl XXXVII
Eve in Temecula which practically qualifies as a suburb of San Diego
where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, another TNT underdog, beat the Oakland
Raiders, 48-21, in the matinee after Mayorga’s romp.
King has to love this scenario but he won’t have
to work too hard in hyping the irrepressible import from South America.
Ricardo can do it all by him- self with an ultra-ego that explodes
like a rocket with the drop of a verb.
Perhaps Ricardo and Dandy Don were made for each other.
Before he became champion, Mayorga had only one fight in America,
kayoing Elias Cruz in three rounds. Next up, King put him in with
Lewis for the title July 28, 2001 in Los Angeles. Nobody really
got started, “Six Heads” suffered a bad cut on his left
eye lid by an accidental butt seven seconds into the second rounds.
Coming back eight months later in Reading, Pa., Mayorga had the
WBA crown on a fifth-round TKO.
The now dual titleholder talks a good game before he
delivers it, but few people thought he was the equal of Forrest,
who came into the first risk for HBO with a 35-0, 26 KOs ledger.
In the countdown to what may stand as the upset of 2003, Mayorga
told anybody who would listen and that included Associated Press’s
Tim Dalhberg: “I look at Forrest as a sparring partner is
all. He hit the biggest lottery when he fought Mosley. He got real
lucky and was able to cash in.”
“There are always people who have doubts just like
there were when i fought Lewis,” said the WBA ruler through
trainer/translator Hector Perez. “I plan to whip him like
a man whips a boy. I’ll hit him like man should hit somebody
to fall down and Forrest will fall down.”
Going in, Forrest had referred to the hammering Hispanic as “sort
of wild and unpredictable.” Yet in his 10 years fighting for
cash, the WBC monarch had always been able to adjust to the would-be
brawlers and repeatedly escaped harm’s way sticking with the
jab from outside.In reflection, it’s possible Forrest may
have been facing for the first time a free-swinger who was willing
to take three punches to land the finisher
In what was scheduled for 12 rounds for HBO’s national
telecast, the message was indelible early the live audience of 2,500
would be watching two ambitious adversaries who were throwing caution
to the wind as well as their punches.
The ringside judges’ official scoring would not
be a factor, just one man standing would have his glove raised.
There were times when Mayorga seemed satisfied throwing
hooks in the first round while punching off balance. Forrest was
successful with combinations to the head and body, plus several
overhand rights. Just before the bell, Mayorga caught Forrest with
a left hook and a shove that sent the affable southerner to the
canvas. Although Forrest complained, referee Marty Denkin ruled
the fall a knockdown.
Forrest, usually phlegmatic, appeared angered by the
referee’s call on what appeared to be a slip. It is possible
the gesture may have keyed Forrest to alter his game plan as he
willingly traded serious punches with Mayorga. There were flurries
when both fighters missed more they landed but it was Mayorga with
the heavier shots in the second round, keeping Forrest off balance.
Mayorga’s superior power was now taking its toll
as he drove Forrest into the ropes with a heavy right into the latter’s
temple and then a shorter right followed by a left hook that sent
the WBC incumbent into the third rope strand, and onto the canvas,
The courageous Forrest struggled to pull himself erect
as the referee tolled the count, watching the movement of the glassy-eyed
fighter, who seemed look straight ahead without a reaction.Reaching
“9”, Denkin let Forrest know the fight was over at 2:06
of the third round.
Forrest, who collected $2 milion in the first of six
bouts with HBO, was provoked by the stoppage.
“I got hit by a shot, but I got up and I wasn’t
hurt. And that wasn’t a knockdøwn at the end of the
first round,” Forrest declared, having had a new experience
in his boxing career. plus collecting his largest purse at $400,000.
Mayorga, who boasted he smoked two packs of cigarettes
a day and drank beer when he wasn’t training for a fight,
was delighted he lived up to a promise ‘to my friends I would
win over Forrest by a knockout.”
“I wasn’t surprised at the finish but i was
told by my corner to take it easy early but i knew if i caught him
right, he would go,” the happy victor said with his trainer
translating.”I believe power can overcome any one with aggression.
When I hit Forrester with the right, I knew he was going down. Then
I hit him with my left to get him out of the ring. My style isn’t
pretty but I have strength and power to get the job down. If you
ask if Forrest ever hurt me wth his punches, I say no because after
my father’s beatings as a child, nothing hurts.”
Forrest admits it wasn’t his original game plan
when he decided to go to war with Mayorga “after the referee
called that a knockdown at the end of the first round.
“When you are fighting a guy who is kind of wild
like Mayorga, you have to take a stand and let him know he has to
show you some respect.I wanted to show him I could fight, box and
bang, I then decided to go out in the second round and establish
some respect. On a knockdown, you know you have to get up because
you want to win.”
Mayorga and Forrest both have HBO contracts with
a rematch clause.
As far as Forrest is concerned,”For me, the sooner,the better.”...........
(Jack Welsh is a syndicated columnist headquartered in Las Vegas,)
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