By Michael Marley
His entertaining, always game but losing effort on March 12 against Boricua Banger Miguel Cotto has left colorful "villain" Ricardo Mayorga in line for another serious payday.
Both promoters, Don King for the mercurial Nicaraguan Mayorga and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, have informed me recently that they will sit down shortly to discuss an autumn showdown between Golden Boy's 20-year-old Mexican wunderkind, WBC 154-pound champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, and the 37-year-old veteran Mayorga.
"Richard wants to talk and I want to talk so let's talk about it," a typically effusive King said by phone from his South Florida base. "Mayorga will be upset-minded against this kid."
In his last bout, a March 5 unanimous decision over Matthew Hatton in Anaheim, Alvarez drew a large crowd of stirred up fans all over Southern California. First up for Alvarez, the flame haired kid from Guadalajara, is a hometown bout on June 18 against durable English lefthander Ryan Rhodes, 45-4 with 31 KOs to his credit.
You'll hear Alvarez say he's not looking past that date and that may be true but his promoters must plan ahead, thus the conversations with King. Alvarez, with his popularity rising meteorically in both the US and his homeland, sports a 36-0-1 record with 26 knockouts.
There's no doubt about his charisma and Mayorga is a perfect, or should I say imperfect, foil for him at this stage of his budding career.
Mayorga, now 29-8-1 with 23 KOs, was stopped in the 12th and final round by the resurgent Puerto Rican Cotto but "El Matador" surprised many with his persistently aggressive effort and amused with his usual clowning.