By Matteo Alderson
This past Saturday night, most of the boxing world made it down to Las Vegas in order to watch the megabout between middleweights Ronald "Winky" Wright and Felix "Tito" Trinidad. BoxingScene caught up plenty of current and former boxing champions to get their thoughts on various subjects in the sport.
Chris Byrd: IBF HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP 38-2-1 (20KOs)
BoxingScene: What do you think about the James Toney steroid situation?
Byrd: I’m surprised I thought he was on something for his last fight.
BoxingScene: You mean against Rydell Booker?
Byrd: Yeah
BoxingScene: What about John Ruiz? Isn’t it a joke how this guy keeps getting the WBA title back?
Byrd: He’s gonna get the title again, but that’s boxing, but it's because of James. It’s his fault cause no way on earth are you not gonna tell everybody what your on, they ask you if you’ve been on anything, if you’ve taken something over the counter, yeah, I would be so fearful of something that I’m taking to heal me would have something in it that would get me in trouble, come on.
BoxingScene: But he did have that torn bicep though.
Byrd: Why, Why?
BoxingScene: He was lifting with that Sable guy.
Byrd: Ahh, Why? I lift a lot of weights too and everybody else lifts weights too.
BoxingScene: What about Wladimir why are they (HBO) so into him?
Byrd: HBO. What can we do as Heavyweights? They have so much invested in these guys they have to keep putting them on.
BoxingScene: Who are you fighting next?
Byrd: Lyakhovich
BoxingScene: That’s a bad fight, not a lot of money.
Byrd: I gotta fight, I gotta stay active.
Ricardo Mayorga: FORMER WORLD WELTERWEIGHT CHAMP 27-5-1 (23KOs)
BoxingScene: What did you think about the fight? (Trinidad-Wright)
Mayorga: Respect for Trinidad and congratulations to Winky Wright, Trinidad had a bad night and Winky had a good night, luck was with him, it hurts my heart that Tito Trinidad lost, but you know what a good champion he’s been.
BoxingScene: Who do you want to fight?
Mayorga: De La Hoya
BoxingScene: You think you will be able to get a fight with him?
Mayorga: When I beat Castillejo, De La Hoya is going to be number one, then I’m going to pick De La Hoya because he will be my mandatory.
BoxingScene: What about El Feroz, Fernando Vargas? Would you like to fight him?
Mayorga: Of course, I’ll fight anybody; I’m not scared of anybody.
BoxingScene: There have been some reports that you won’t be able to fight because of your legal problems in Nicaragua, what’s going on with that?
Mayorga: That’s in the hands of my lawyers, they told me it will be taken care of, I’m hear to talk about and think about boxing, I’m concentrating on my fight, I’m not leaving, and I’m going to win it.
BoxingScene: What do you weigh right now?
Mayorga: 167
BoxingScene: You’ll make 154 pretty easily?
Mayorga: For me it’s real easy.
BoxingScene: What about Castillejo, he’s a good boxer?
Mayorga: He’s a Turkey, an idiot, he doesn’t even know his mother’s name. I’m going to knock him out in two rounds.
Daniel Santos: WBO JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMP 29-2-1 (20KOs)
BoxingScene: What do you think about Margarito and all the publicity he’s gotten for his win against Cintron?
Santos: He’s a good fighter, he has a lot of experience, he has a long future, I saw his last performance it was awesome, he was a strong fighter, Kermit could not push him back.
BoxingScene: Who are you going to fight next?
Santos: I would like to fight Winky Wright he is the man, he beat the hottest fighter in boxing.
BoxingScene: What about Vargas?
Santos: Right now I want to fight the best fighters and if I have to move up a weight division then I will do that.
BoxingScene: You have any fights scheduled right now?
Santos: In September we will fight Cory Spinks.
Notes:
As always Chris Byrd was polite, engaging, and honest. I just wish he would get a meaningful fight, Serguei Laykhovich is a decent fighter, but at this point in his career Chris needs big fights. Plus he really hasn’t looked good since his win over Holyfield in 2002; you’d hate to see him get knocked off before getting a chance to fight a Toney or a Klitchko.
Ricardo Mayorga is an awesome interview; he is articulate, angry, and confident and doesn’t shy away from talking smack. If he beats Castillejo, a fight between him and Vargas would be awesome; I would pay just to see the press conference. De La Hoya has maybe two or three fights left, Mayorga’s dreaming about a De La Hoya pay day, but it’s not going to happen.
Daniel Santos is a huge 154-pounder. I’m 5’10 195 and he dwarfs me. Still Daniel should be getting some more press since he does hold a recent win over the streaking Antonio Margarito. If he does fight Spinks in the fall it should be interesting.
