Jack Welsh
www.ringsports.com

Ricardo Mayorga, the egocentric among boxing’s newest world champions, may surface even more sassier when he learns Nevada’s legal odds-makers have made Vernon Forrest a 3-1 favorite to win the WBC/WBA welterweight crowns in their return bout July 12 at the Orleans Arena in a title tripleheader promoted by Don King and televised by HBO.

Mayorga, the most explosive puncher to explode out of Managua, Nicaragua since the legendary Alexis Arguello, is unmatched in rousing hype for this 12-round pairing, telling the masses he will wager $100,000 with any takers that Forrest will fall in two rounds. That’s one round less than last Jan.25 when the unsung Hispanic took the WBC crown in Temecula, Ca. on a spectacular TKO.

It was a devastating stoppage of the previously undefeated Forrest, who had previously laid back-to-back defeats on Sugar Shane Mosley like he invented him in 2001, just one year after the Pomona, Ca., power house upset Oscar De La Hoya to wrap up the WBC 147-pound award.

Forrest, the pride of Atlanta, Ga., would later admit he blew the inning by ignoring his superb boxing skills and going to war with the 29-year-old heavy-handed adversary virtually unknown in the United States. Many of boxing’s sharper minds have a tendency to view Forrest’s hammering as the sport’s biggest upset of the year.

Both Mayorga and trainer Hecter Perez resent some implications by the media and public that the stunning stoppage of Forrest was a fluke, especially since the former never let his victim get untracked.

Perhaps a lovable rogue in his financially strapped Nicaragua, Mayorga’s fighting philosophy is “what you see, is what you get” in a serious campaign to help his hungry countrymen.

Mayorga, with a 24-3-1,1 NC, 22 KOs resume since turning pro in 1993, isn’t upset he has drawn considerable heat from people in and out of boxing for acquiring the unlikely athletic habit of smoking cigarettes and drinking beer since he was 11.

‘I respect everybody. When people like somebody ,they accept them the way they are. That is how I am. I‘m going to accept him the way they are. People have to be the way they really are. If they like you, they like you. If they hate you, they hate you. I will knock out Forrest in two rounds whether I have a cigarette or not, I know a lot of people want to see me fight a lot more rounds. So if HBO wants, they can pick two sparring partners for me to fight after I knock out Forrest

That way the audience can see me fight 12 rounds.”

Forrest, anxious to atone for the only blot on his 35-1, 26 KOs ledger, has been training intensely with Ronnie Shields in Vero Beach, Fla., and twice lit Mayorga’s ire in recent weeks ---the first time when previous commitments made him a no-show on King’s kick off media luncheon at the Orleans in May and again last week when the deposed champion did not appear in the fighters’ teleconference call.

“The first time I had some business I had to take care of at home, Mayorga has been doing all the talking in recent weeks and there is nothing he can say that could surprise me. I’ll be the one bringing the
surprise when we get in the ring. I know he won’t like what I have planned this time,” Forrest reflected.

Perez, veteran conditioner out of San Antonio, TX., has done a superb job in keeping the volatile Mayorga’s eye on the tiger in their camp drills at Ft. Pierce, Fla., and made no reference the new 147- pound champion has acknowledged Forrest as the bookmakers’ betting favorite.

“Ricardo is a very unique person. There are times when he talks and does some things he s not suppose to do. When we are in the gym, and I ask him to do certain things, he does without any problems. Our first fight together was against Forrest and we have worked together without a hitch. Mayorga’s body can
withstand a lot of work, incredible stamina. I have never seen another fighter like this. If he says he will knock out Forrest in two rounds, let‘s see. In their last fight, Ricardo said he would do it in four, and he did it in three.”

It is not unreasonable that Mayorga and Perez should anticipate Forrest returning as the complete boxer-puncher he is since turning pro in 1992. They can forget about the Georgia gladiator who obviously underrated the unsung Nicaraguan bomber and blew it all by jumping into an early slugfest .

Mayorga’s pre-fight dialogue in recent weeks sounds like an adversary obsessed with having a shorter night with the very competent Forrest but this could be a smokescreen ploy instituted deftly by the versatile Perez.

Whatever the real maneuver, the irrepressible Mayorga remains perfect as a super-confident first-time defender:

“ When someone is scared to fight, they are even scared to talk to reporters. That’s why Forrest didn’t show up early. I’m going to give him a whipping because I didn’t get my Father’s Day present from him. That’s what I am going to do in two rounds.

Not even his dog is going to recognize him when he gets home. As soon as the bell rings, with the first clean punch I deliver, I think I can knock Forrest out. I am giving him an extra round but right now I am strong and confident. If it does go past two rounds and he grabs and holds me, and the referee doesn’t break us up, I’m a good dog and I’ll know what to do.”

FIGHT FORECASTS: ...Vernon Forrest promises to stay out of harm’s way from the opening bell, keeping Ricardo Mayorga off balance trying to throw that vaunted right and then countering the champion with stinging jabs. If that strategy jells, look for Forrest back on the throne with a ninth round TKO.

The semi-final looms as a speed trap for both fighters but DeMarcus Corley figures to outpoint Zab Judah in 12 to retain his WBO junior welterweight crown.

Vivian Harris spoils the American debut of France’s Soulemayne M” Baye, retaining his WBA
super welterweight title on a TKO in 10.