Monday, July 14, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mayorga sets sights on De La Hoya

Promoters envision Hispanic boxers as appealing matchup on pay per view

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Ricardo Mayorga gets a victory ride after defeating Vernon Forrest at the Orleans Arena on Saturday. Mayorga retained his WBA and WBC welterweight titles after winning on a majority decision. Photo by John Gurzinski.

For the last two months, Ricardo Mayorga disparaged Vernon Forrest every chance he got.

But on Sunday, a day after he successfully defended his WBA/WBC welterweight titles by scoring a majority decision over Forrest at the Orleans Arena, Mayorga turned his attention to super welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya.

Mayorga spent most of Sunday speaking with reporters, continuing his daily media barrage of the last two months, while Forrest chose not to participate in the promotion.

And after failing to deliver on two pre-fight guarantees that he had made on Thursday -- to regain his titles and to show up at the post-fight news conference -- few had much interest in Forrest anyway.

Mayorga, though, was another story.

"This guy, with his personality and his power, he has forced people to notice him," promoter Don King said. "He has made himself a superstar."

Perhaps in the insular world of boxing Mayorga is a superstar. But he has a long way to go before he becomes a recognizable crossover name like De La Hoya.

Still, Mayorga brings a lot to the table as a potential De La Hoya opponent. Top Rank president Bob Arum, De La Hoya's promoter, refused to consider Forrest as an opponent for De La Hoya after Forrest had beaten Shane Mosley twice. Arum said that the Hispanic fans who are the sport's most loyal did not know Forrest.

But Mayorga, who is from Nicaragua, clearly has the ethnicity that Arum has stressed is so important. And, Mayorga pointed out, he is more than just a Hispanic name for De La Hoya to use to sell pay-per-views.

"I have big (guts)," Mayorga said. "Does Oscar? Does he? Don't you think he is scared?"

De La Hoya has a title fight on Sept. 13 at the MGM Grand against Mosley, and King doesn't want to let Mayorga's flame flicker. So he plans to match him quickly with IBF welterweight champion Cory Spinks and then against WBO champion Antonio Margarito in a bout that would have Fight of the Year-type potential.

Also, Mayorga doesn't have an exclusive contract with any television network, giving King one less obstacle in making the best matches.

"Our goal is to get to Oscar De La Hoya, but we can't wait for Oscar De La Hoya," King said. "Oscar has already earned his stripes and he knows how to pose and play with the media. What we are going to do is keep this guy fighting every other month because the more he's out there, the more he wins the hearts of the people.

"He'll fight anyone anywhere at any time. And that by itself is different in boxing now. So I want to take this young man and clean out the division on the road to Oscar."

That's fine with Mayorga, who noticed undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins at the post-fight news conference on Saturday and indicated he would like a bout with him.

While Mayorga has numerous big-money options and intriguing fights ahead of him, Forrest faces a much murkier future. Coming off back-to-back losses and with no title, he may find it hard to get any of the top-rated contenders into the ring.

And with a large segment of the media angry at him for his refusal to speak before or after Saturday's fight, he won't have anyone to champion his cause.

"Vernon made his bed," King said. "It's never smart to do that. I can't understand what he was doing. I've seen a lot in my life, but I've never seen anything like that. But you know what? Nobody cares about what he does now anyway. He's yesterday's news."