Originally Published: September 29, 2008
'Sugar' canes Mayorga with last-second assault in sweet homecoming
Talk about saving your best for last. Shane Mosley unleashed a high-octane assault seconds from the end of Round 12 to disconnect Ricardo Mayorga from his senses Saturday in Carson, Calif.
Harry How/Getty ImagesSweet and sour: "Sugar" Shane Mosley, left, and Ricardo Mayorga fought on even terms for the better part of their 12-round fight.
A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
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Shane Mosley TKO12 Ricardo Mayorga |
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Records: Mosley, 45-5, 38 KOs; Mayorga, 28-7-1, 22 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: At 37, Mosley, the former three-division champ and sure-fire Hall of Famer, isn't what he once was when he ruled as pound-for-pound king. But you know what? He's still damn good, and a joy to watch. Moving back up to junior middleweight to face Mayorga (himself a former welterweight and junior middleweight titleholder), Mosley needed almost every second of the fight to get what turned out to be a sensational knockout with one second left in the bout. Early on, Mosley, coming off a 321-day layoff -- the longest of his career -- had some problems with Mayorga's bulk and wild punching. They both weighed in officially at 153½ Friday, but while Mosley only rehydrated to 160½ Mayorga, who hadn't fought since sending two-time Mosley knockout victim Fernando Vargas into retirement in November, went all the way up to 170. They looked like they belonged in different divisions in the ring, but Mosley, with his far superior speed, skill and accurate punching, was able to withstand Mayorga's best shots early before wearing him down (how about all those right hands he landed?) as the fight wore on. Even though it appeared Mosley had the fight well in hand, he went after Mayorga in the 12th round. It's one of the reasons to love Mosley -- he gives it his all, to the end. A lot of prizefighters could take a lesson from him. In any case, he wanted to close the show and he did. He cracked Mayorga, 35, of Nicaragua, with a sweet right-left-right combination to drop him in the 12th. With time ticking down and Mayorga back on his feet, Mosley threw a single left hook and flattened him at the bell; referee David Mendoza rightfully called it off to give Mosley a crowd-pleasing and dramatic knockout that should be given consideration as the knockout of the year. For Mosley, who earned $1.5 million to Mayorga's $550,000, it was a sweet homecoming to southern California, where he hadn't fought since the defining victory of his career, the 2000 welterweight championship win against Oscar De La Hoya (now his pal and business partner in Golden Boy Promotions) at the Staples Center. It's just too bad only 5,798 showed up to watch it after a lackluster promotion. Had Mosley not scored the thrilling knockout, he would have won a split decision. It would have been a travesty that it wasn't unanimous. Mosley was winning the fight, but judge Pat Russell incredibly had Mayorga ahead 105-104 while the other two judges had Mosley up 107-102 and 105-104. Mosley would love to fight division kingpin Antonio Margarito or engage in a rematch with Miguel Cotto, who handed Mosley a close loss last November. However, Margarito (who was ringside) and Cotto are headed toward a summer rematch with each other, leaving Mosley in need of a dance partner before either of those bouts are possible in late 2009. Also ringside was Leonard Ellerbe, the close adviser and best friend of Mayweather, who would be a logical opponent for Mosley should he come out of retirement. Wouldn't that be a tremendous fight? As for Mayorga, everyone's favorite trash talker and foil, he now has the distinction of having been knocked out by the era's royalty: Mosley, De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad. |
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Andre Berto W12 Steve Forbes Retains a welterweight title Scores: 118-109 (twice), 116-111 |
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Records: Berto, 23-0, 19 KOs; Forbes, 33-7, 9 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Steve Forbes, a former junior lightweight titleholder and current junior welterweight, had his moments in a lopsided decision loss to Oscar De La Hoya at 150 pounds in May, and Berto's point in fighting him was to measure himself against the Golden Boy. Could Berto put the iron-chinned Forbes on his butt? Could he stop him? In other words, could Berto do better against the runner-up on the second season of "The Contender" than De La Hoya did? As it turned out, he was able to do just as well. But despite a dominant performance, even Berto, 25, couldn't knock Forbes, 31, down or out. Forbes, by the way, welcomed Floyd Mayweather Sr. back to his corner as trainer after going against him when he worked with De La Hoya in May. In June, Berto destroyed undeserving Miki Rodriguez to win the title Floyd Mayweather vacated upon his retirement. For his first defense, Berto faced Forbes, a modest step up in competition, but still not one of the studs in a loaded division like Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto, Paul Williams, Joshua Clottey or even Zab Judah. But Berto and his handlers promise those sorts of fights will come eventually. Against Forbes, Berto looked very good. After Forbes had a big second round, Berto -- the 2006 ESPN.com Prospect of the Year and a 2004 Olympian for Haiti -- collected himself and took over the fight. His speed and accurate punching were the difference. Berto cut Forbes' left eye with a punch in the third round, although referee James Jen-Kin ruled it was a head butt, but it didn't have much bearing on the rest of the fight. With the light-hitting Forbes out of the way, Berto likely will move on to a mandatory defense early next year against former titleholder Luis Collazo, who won on the undercard. That's another solid step up for young gun Berto. If he can take care of Collazo, promoter Lou DiBella promises Berto will be facing the elite. Forbes intended to return to junior welterweight after the loss to De La Hoya until Berto offered him the title shot. Now, having lost two in a row outside of his weight division, Forbes intends to return to 140 pounds, or perhaps go all the way down to 135 to see what he can do in the stacked lightweight division. |
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Luis Collazo TKO8 Russell Jordan |
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Records: Collazo, 29-3, 14 KOs; Jordan, 15-6, 10 KOs |
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Rafael's remark: It's about time Collazo got back in the ring. The former welterweight titleholder, robbed of his belt by Ricky Hatton in May 2006, later lost to Shane Mosley in a lopsided decision in February 2007. During the fight, Collazo badly injured his hand and needed surgery, which led to a long layoff. He didn't fight again until winning a low-profile, untelevised bout on the Roy Jones-Felix Trinidad undercard in January. Another layoff ensued, but he got back in action by stopping Jordan, who took the fight on one day's notice, with a right hook at 2:28 of the eighth round. The victory sets up Collazo for another title opportunity. He is the mandatory challenger for Berto's title. They likely will meet in early 2009 in a fight that should pose a good test for Berto.
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Daniel Jacobs W6 Emmanuel Gonzalez Scores: 60-52, 59-54, 58-53 |
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Records: Jacobs, 10-0, 9 KOs; Gonzalez, 9-3, 4 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Jacobs, 21, is a blue-chip prospect with a bright future who finally got at least a slight test when Gonzalez forced him to go the distance for the first time. In his first nine professional fights, Jacobs, of Brooklyn, N.Y., had scored seven first-round knockouts, a second-round knockout and a fourth-round stoppage. Gonzalez, 22, of Puerto Rico, went down twice, but landed some of his shots to make it to the final bell. It was just the sort of learning experience a highly touted prospect needs. There was some talk that Jacobs would step up in competition and open the Nov. 22 HBO card featuring the Ricky Hatton-Paulie Malignaggi junior welterweight championship fight, but that has been scrapped because HBO and Golden Boy realized that Jacobs needs a bit more seasoning until he is put in that kind of high-profile spot. The win against Gonzalez was the kind of fight that helped give it to him. Also on the card: former heavyweight title challenger Ray Austin (25-4-4, 16 KOs), who was crushed by Wladimir Klitschko in two rounds in 2007, won an eight-round decision against Domonic Jenkins (13-10-1, 6 KOs) on scores of 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75; middleweight prospect Craig McEwan (12-0, 7 KOs) won a unanimous decision against Hilario Lopez (10-6, 7 KOs) on three scores of 80-71; and 22-year-old super middleweight prospect Marcus Johnson (16-0, 13 KOs) stopped Julio Cesar De La Cruz (15-5-1, 4 KOs) in the seventh round of a scheduled eight. |
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Guillermo Jones TKO10 Firat Arslan Wins a cruiserweight title |
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Records: Jones, 36-3-2, 28 KOs; Arslan, 29-4-1, 18 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Jones could always fight. But he had some bad luck until finally getting over the hump against Arslan and claiming a world title. In 1998, Jones, 36, of Panama, failed to capture a junior middleweight title against Laurent Boudouani, settling for a draw and, later, a split decision loss. He eventually moved all way up to cruiserweight, where he was robbed in 2002 when the judges gave him a draw against then-titleholder Johnny Nelson in Nelson's backyard in England. And in a 2005 nontitle bout, he lost a very debatable split decision to future titleholder Steve Cunningham. Finally getting another chance against Germany's 37-year-old Arslan, Jones (who even fought a few heavyweight bouts) made the most of it. Arslan pressed the action in the fast-paced fight, but Jones, 6-foot-4, eventually began to tag the 6-foot Arslan, who was cut on his bottom lip and bleeding from his nose. Referee Luis Pabon had the ring doctor examine the wounds in the seventh round. Finally, in the 10th, Pabon stopped the fight after Jones battered Arslan around the ring with dozens of unanswered shots, including an ton of uppercuts. |
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Denis Inkin W12 Fulgencio Zuniga Wins a vacant super middleweight title Scores: 118-110, 117-111, 116-112 |
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Records: Inkin, 34-0, 24 KOs; Zuniga, 21-3-1, 18 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Inkin, whose injuries forced him to pull out of elimination bouts with Carl Froch twice, was slated to face Zuniga for another interim version of the 168-pound title. However, on Friday, long-reigning champion Joe Calzaghe, who will fight Roy Jones at light heavyweight on Nov. 8, vacated the WBO title he once held for more than 11 years. That cleared the path for Inkin and Zuniga to square off for the vacant title and Inkin, 30, of Russia, came away with the title. Zuniga, 30, of Colombia, has only lost to top opponents, dropping a junior middleweight title bout to Daniel Santos in 2003 and being stopped by Kelly Pavlik in nine rounds in 2005 after knocking Pavlik down. Zuniga was a late replacement for Inkin stablemate Karoly Balzsay, who suffered a cut in training and had to withdraw. |
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Juan Carlos Gomez W12 Vladimir Virchis Title eliminator Scores: 117-110, 117-109, 115-111 |
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Records: Gomez, 44-1, 35 KOs; Virchis, 24-2, 20 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: After 10 cruiserweight title defenses, Gomez, 35, a German-based Cuban defector, moved up in 2002 to heavyweight, where he has continued to win (other than a freak first-round knockout loss to Yanqui Diaz in a huge upset in 2004). But Gomez has had promotional issues and problems outside the ring that have pushed him into the background. However, by dropping Ukraine's Virchis, 35, in the fourth round and outboxing him to win the decision, Gomez earned himself a heavyweight title shot. By winning, Gomez will be the mandatory challenger for the winner of the Oct. 11 fight between titleholder Samuel Peter and Klitschko. Aside from the title shot, Gomez took great pleasure in beating Virchis because he is promoted by Peter Kohl's Universum, with whom Gomez had a serious falling out. |
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Edgar Sosa W12 Sonny Boy Jaro Retains a junior flyweight title Scores: 118-109, 117-110 (twice). |
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Records: Sosa, 33-5, 17 KOs; Jaro, 28-7-5, 17 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Mexico's Sosa, 29, has been one of the busiest titleholders in boxing, racking up his sixth defense since outpointing Brian Viloria for a vacant in April 2007. Sosa had the fight in hand when Jaro, 26, of the Philippines, dropped him in the ninth round. Although Sosa was hurt, he survived a trip to the mat to retain the title in front of some 12,000 fans. Sosa has been on a great run: He hasn't lost since 2003 while winning 21 fights in a row. |
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Daniel Reyes W12 Luis Lazarte Wins a vacant interim strawweight title Scores: 118-112, 116-112, 114-114 |
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Records: Reyes, 40-5-1, 30 KOs; Lazarte, 40-9-1, 17 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Reyes, 36, a former titleholder from Colombia, went to Lazarte's turf in Argentina and claimed an interim belt via majority decision, a remarkable turnaround two fights after he was starched by Giovani Segura in one round two fights ago. So while it's a nice win for Reyes, why in the world was this for an interim world title? Perhaps the WBO's bank account needed a boost with another sanctioning fee. It's full titleholder at 105 pounds is Donnie Nietes of the Philippines. He is not injured and he just defended the title Aug. 30 with a second-round knockout. So why exactly was an interim title needed? This is just more of the alphabet madness that infects boxing like a deadly disease. Nietes must now face Reyes in a mandatory bout. For Lazarte, the fifth time was not the charm. He's now 0-5 in world title bouts. Besides the loss to Reyes, he was disqualified in the 10th round of a 2007 junior flyweight bid against Edgar Sosa; also disqualified in the 10th round in a flyweight challenge against Omar Narvaez in 2002; knocked out in two rounds in a 2001 flyweight title fight against Pongsaklek Wonjongkam; and dropped a split decision to Kermin Guardia in a 1999 strawweight title match. Don't you think the point has been made? Lazarte isn't good enough to win a title. |
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Vicente Escobedo TKO6 Dominic Salcido |
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Records: Escobedo, 19-1, 12 KOs; Salcido, 16-1, 8 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: For most of the fight, things did not look too good for Escobedo, 26, a 2004 U.S. Olympian who Golden Boy Productions had high hopes for. Fellow Southern California prospect Salcido (what was with that hairdo?) was outboxing Escobedo with relative ease in the Telefutura main event, beating him to the punch and leading on all three scorecards. But Escobedo finally found his offense in the sixth. He hurt Salcido, 24, with a left hook and followed with a combination that dropped him hard in a corner. Escobedo was all over him in the follow-up attack and referee David Mendoza properly called it off to save Salcido from what was going to be a crushing knockout. Escobedo won his 10th in a row since Daniel Jimenez upset him via split decision in 2006. Escobedo next might face faded former titleholder Carlos Hernandez in what would be his biggest fight yet. |
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Paul Williams TKO1 Andy Kolle |
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Records: Williams, 35-1, 26 KOs; Kolle, 17-2, 12 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Williams holds a welterweight title but is unable to find a marquee fight in the division, so he, manager Al Haymon, trainer George Peterson and promoter Dan Goossen decided it was the right time for Williams to test the waters of the middleweight division, where he will eventually make his living. At 6-foot-1 with a lanky frame, Williams, 27, looked like he belonged in the division and the experiment went perfectly as Williams dusted Kolle, 26, in just 97 seconds to make a major statement. It wasn't so much that Williams won. Everyone expected that. But it was a bit of surprise to see him wipe out the career middleweight in such brutal fashion in the first Versus main event since the network opened things up to all promoters following the expiration of an exclusive deal with Top Rank. Williams landed hard shots from the outset and then flattened Kolle with a right hook-left hand combination that left him on the mat with his head under the bottom rope and partially hanging out of the ring. Kolle, who reeled off eight wins in a row since a credible performance in a sixth-round TKO loss to 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward in 2006, somehow got to his feet, but he was very shaky and referee Jerry Cantu properly called it off. Williams will return on Nov. 29 to headline an HBO "Boxing After Dark" card, but it is unclear in which weight class he will fight. There's a chance he will return to welterweight and defend his title against mandatory Michael Jennings. There is also a chance he will drop to the junior middleweight division and challenge titlist Verno Phillips. Whatever Williams does, and in whatever division he picks between 147 and 160, he is a force to be reckoned with. |
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Cristobal Arreola TKO3 Israel Garcia |
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Records: Arreola, 25-0, 22 KOs; Garcia, 19-2, 11 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Many view Arreola, 27, as the best American heavyweight contender and he stormed to victory against Garcia, 38, who had never previously been stopped. Arreola dominated and was teeing off on Garcia in the third round. He was trapped along the ropes and in rough shape when referee Lou Moret stepped in. Perhaps the stoppage was a tick premature, but Garcia was going to get knocked out eventually. Arreola is due back Nov. 29 on Paul Williams' HBO undercard, but promoter Dan Goossen says David Tua and Hasim Rahman have both turned down $250,000 offers to fight him. More likely, Arreola will wind up facing fringe contender Travis Walker. Whomever Arreola faces, he needs to come in better condition. He weighed a career-heavy 258½ pounds against Garcia, a clear sign he wasn't taking the fight seriously. If Arreola is going to be a heavyweight champion, that's not the attitude you want to see. He needs to take every fight seriously or it's going to be a short run at the top. |
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Brian Viloria W8 Javier Lagos Scores: 80-72 (three times) |
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Records: Viloria, 23-2, 13 KOs; Lagos, 15-13-2 |
| Rafael's remark: Viloria, a former junior flyweight titlist, got in some good work in cruising to a win against Mexican journeyman Lagos, who lost his fifth in a row and sixth in seven fights. Viloria just wanted to get sharp for an anticipated title fight Dec. 13 on Top Rank's show in Macau, China, where Viloria, 27, is supposed to face Ulises Solis. However, Solis was recently ill, forcing his defense last week against Nerys Espinoza to be postponed until Oct. 25. That means Solis likely won't be able to defend against Viloria and Top Rank will have to find him another opponent, possibly Cesar Canchila, who is co-promoted by Top Rank and holds an interim version of the 108-pound title. |
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
