Mayorga gets a KO in 3!
In the main event of the evening at the Pechanga Resort and Casino the upset of the year occurred as the charismatic Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga became the WBA and WBC unified welterweight champion. Former WBC champion Vernon Forrest was boxing smoothly until the end of the first round when he became tangled up with Mayorga and was thrown to the canvas. The referee ruled a knockdown but Forrest was clearly unhurt. In the second round Mayorga was able to entice Forrest into a brawl. Forrest landed some crisp right uppercuts but Mayorga showed a tremendous chin by shaking them off as if they were nothing.
In the third round Mayorga came out of his corner and landed a series of right hands to the head of Forrest. Forrest’s legs appeared shaky and Mayorga immediately capitalized by forcing Forrest onto the ropes where he landed a huge right hand that ended the bout at the 2:06 mark. Forrest appeared to be hurt very badly but later claimed he could have continued, “We’re in championship unification fight. [As] A true champion you’re supposed to go out on your back, you’re not supposed to go out standing up.”
Many ringside observers wondered what had caused Forrest, who is primarily known for his excellent jab and his ability to smother fighters on the inside, to slug it out with the wild Nicaraguan champion. Forrest claimed that it was his choice to slug with Mayorga, “I’m a fighter, I have the ability to box and people always saw me box. But nobody ever really saw me fight. Some guys you box, some guys you fight.”
“When you’re fighting a guy like that you have to stand your ground sometimes, let a guy know that he’s not in there with a punching bag he’s in there with a true fighter,” explained a humbled Forrest, “I knew that I wasn’t gonna try to box this guy for twelve rounds. I knew that I sooner or later I was gonna have to sit down and fight with him, and I chose to sit down and fight with him early.”
Whether or not Forrest truly chose to forgo his normal game plan and slug his wilder foe, or he was merely forced into that type of fight due to the physical strength and constant attack of Mayorga is a question that may be answered in a rematch. Don King saw his opportunity to align himself with a more fragile-minded Forrest at the post fight press conference. King said that a rematch is definitely in the works after Mayorga fights to unify the IBF title versus the winner of the rematch between Corey Spinks and Michelle Piccirillo. Spinks was robbed last year in the first fight between the two in Italy and is a definite spoiler. It makes very little sense for King to put his new shining star in against a guy with such an awkward style.
The brash Mayorga clearly fears no one, but few fans would care to see him chasing Spinks around the ring for twelve rounds. Mayorga let his intentions regarding the future be known after the fight though, “I want to tell everyone that I’m gonna beat anyone at 147 and I just have to talk to my boss over here (Don King).”
As was the case after he defeated Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis for his title last year, Mayorga heaped praise upon Don King as his savior. It almost seemed as if he would praise King first and foremost, and then “also, by the way” give credit to God and his family. Mayorga refused to give Forrest any credit, despite taking what appeared to be some very hard, flush uppercuts during the fight.
“Before the fight I told everyone that Vernon Forrest doesn’t mean anything to me. The only punches that I’ve ever felt have been from my father when he punched me when I was a kid,” joked the confident champion when asked if Forrest hurt him at all in the fight.
One possible future opponent for Mayorga was on hand at the post fight press conference to state his case as a worthy foe. WBO Champion Antonio Margarito, who fights in two weeks against former champion and Mayorga victim “Six Heads” Lewis, issued a challenge to Mayorga and Don King. King was his usual hilarious self as he said to the WBO champ in his best Spanish accent, “Oh Antonio Margarito, the only problem with you is, you ain’t with me.” When King found out Margarito was facing Lewis, a fighter he formerly promoted who unceremoniously left him, he couldn’t help but urge him to win decisively.
“You just gave me a shot in the arm. You’re gonna be fighting Six Heads?” asked King, “You gotta take him out man!! Take him out Antonio, absolutamente, exacto!!!”
In the co-feature Joel Casamayor won a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Nate Campbell. Casamayor started slowly as Campbell swept the first three rounds with his aggression as he bounced around on the outside and peppered the Cuban former champion. Casamayor was unable to get into any sort of rhythm early on as he looked to slip Campbell’s right hands and counter with his own straight lefts. After round three Casamayor began to take the fight over as Campbell seemed to tire. Both fighters began to trade body shots in the trenches in round four. As the fight got progressively rougher it seemed to be to the advantage of the more experienced fighter, Casamayor.
Casamayor was as accurate as he normally is, however he again showed an iron chin by absorbing some right hands from the hard punching Campbell which caused cuts and swelling over his left eye. Age may be catching up to Casamayor, who doesn’t seem to have the foot speed he once did a few years ago. He still is a tough, experienced former champion who came through when the going got tough against his younger foe. When asked his thoughts after the fight Campbell felt that he won and said that the most difficult part of the fight for him was “beating the judges.”
At the post fight press conference a beat up looking Casamayor said he was pleased with his performance, “I’d like to thank HBO for this opportunity, I’m very happy to be here. Nate Campbell is a good opponent-he was undefeated. This is the second puncher I’ve made run. I made Freitas run and now I made this guy run. The guy was running on me, so the first three rounds I had a hard time figuring the kid out. But later I got into rhythm and started backing him up.”
On the non televised undercard Xavier Tolliver (11-2 8Kos) scored a technical knockout Jerry Sarabay (4-3) as the bout was stopped after round four due to a right ear injury to the southpaw Sarabay. Yuri Foreman improved to 8-0 as he knocked out midwesterner Will Evans with a big hook at the 1:38 mark of the first round. Cedric Boswell was unimpressive in stopping Jim Strohl in round five. Boswell looked winded and was throwing quite a few arm punches against the gritty foe. Robert Allen was put in against an inept opponent named Kevin Hall who showed little resistance before folding in one round. Derek Bryant stopped a survival minded Damon Reed in two rounds. Milan Roldzak was knocked out by a downward right hand from the taller Malcolm Tann (3-0)
