Oscar De La Hoya vs Ricardo Mayorga MGM Grand commemorative limited edition $5 gaming chip, billed "Danger Zone" 6th May 2006, MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

At stake: Mayorga's WBC light middleweight title. Scenario: The brash Nicaraguan who also wrangled De La Hoya with his trash talking, ha made a name for himself by twice defeating capable Vernon Forrest, by his overwhelming aggressiveness and rock solid chin. However, a boxer with limited ability and speed who charges head first into his opponent had little chance aginst a fighte of De la Hoya's ability. The result was sensational but not suprsing. Result: 3 knock downs en route to a sixth round knockout.

Price: £25

This "Golden Boy" of boxing was born on February 4th 1973 in East Los Angeles, California. He was one of America's top amateur boxers during the late 80-s and early 90's, until he turned pro right after winning a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. The following November, he fought Lamar Williams and won the match with a first-round KO.

At 5'11 with an impressive 72-inch reach, he is one of today's most respected boxers, with a tremendous appeal to a broad audience of sports fan. His smooth character in the ring probably emanates from the fact that he "learned long ago to live with fear- controlled fear. Being relaxed, anticipating punches, translates into fear under control." He realizes that he is still young and that he still has a long road ahead, where he learns something new every time he finishes a daily workout. "The is always space for improvement, no matter how long you've been in the business."

Take away all the fame and glamour of this pretty boy of boxing, he still enjoys the time spent at home with his family. His entire family is very proud of Oscar's career, even if his brother Joel Jr. says that "Oscar hated physical confrontations." Part of Oscar's calling for boxing had to do with the time his father caught him playing, and said to him "How many times have I told you not to play baseball? I don't want you to get hurt. You can get killed out here. Go to the gym and learn how to defend yourself. That's what you've got to do." From that point on, it was clear that boxing was a tradition in the family, and he was going to be part of it.

"The incentive for my development as a boxer was my own family." Another reason was the fact that his close relatives would give him some money every time he would win a boxing during his mid-teens. They would give him some loose change and even a few dollars at times. He has come a long way since then, as he now receives 7 figure salaries for his fights, mainly due to his huge drawing power of fans. He has become a sports icon with tremendous promotional power as he can be found on promo items like t-shirts, boxing gloves, and even skin.

De La Hoya does his press conferences in Spanish, his mother tongue. His love for his roots and background make him a god-like creature among his own. De La Hoya does his press conferences in Spanish, his mother tongue. His love for his roots and background make him a god-like creature among his own. He won his first world title in 1994 against Jimmi Bredahl.

In 1995, he defeated Rafael Ruelas, later winning over Genaro Hernandez and Jesse James Leija. In June 1996, he clearly dominated his long time idol Julio Cesar Chavez in a fourth-round TKO. His 1997 defeat over the previously undefeated Miguel Gonzalez, won him the WBC lightweight title. Pernell Whitaker was his next in-ring victim with a close decision over the champ.

With an amazing record as a boxer, he seems to follow in the footsteps of other boxing legends like Sugar Ray Leonard, the one previously referred to as the "Golden Boy".








Ricardo Mayorga (born October 3, 1973 in Managua, Nicaragua). He is the former WBA/WBC Welterweight champion and the former WBC Junior Middleweight champion. He holds a fair record of 29-6 with 23 knockouts and 1 draw. Mayorga is known as "El Matador" for his incredible power, knockout record, and having one of the best chins in the boxing industry. He was featured for the first time on the cover of Ring Magazine on the December 2003 issue, released in October. The cover read "The craziest man in the sport: Mayorga lights up boxing."

Mayorga lost his first pro bout, being beaten by a TKO in the six round of his first professional bout by Humberto Aranda in 1993. He came back in 1994 to win three fights, all by knockout, including the third round knockout win over José Morales, which was his first career win. His first fight in 1995 was also his first fight in Nicaragua, and it was fought for the Nicaraguan Welterweight title. Mayorga won the title when he knocked out Miguel Pérez in six rounds. After two more knockout wins, he defended it in a rematch with Perez, and the second time, he defeated Perez by a knockout in three.

He then took off three years from boxing, and when he returned, in 1998, he beat German Espinales by a knockout in four, but in his next bout, he lost a ten round decision to former Edwin Rosario rival Roger Flores. After the Flores bout, he fought Henry Castillo and suffered his second loss in a row, also by decision in ten.
In his next fight, in 1999, he beat Porfirio Miranda by a knockout in one round. After one more win, he gained revenge against Castillo, defeating him by a knockout in seven, and then he met Jose Cordova for the Central American Welterweight title. He added that belt by beating Cordova by a decision in twelve.
After one more win, Mayorga went to Puerto Rico to meet Cuba's fringe contender Dyobelis Hurtado, a boxer who had faced Pernell Whitaker and Kostya Tszyu in world title tries, among others. Mayorga and Hurtado came up with a technical draw in two rounds, and in his next fight, Mayorga lifted the WBA's Latin American Jr. Middleweight belt with a two round knockout of Marcos Avendano. A rematch with Espinales for the Fecarbox Welterweight title, brought Mayorga exactly the same result as their first encounter: A four round knockout win, and another minor title belt. He won seven more fights in a row, including 2 defences each of his WBA Latin American and Fecarbox belts

On July 28 of 2001, he challenged the WBA's World Welterweight Champion Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis at the Los Angeles Roy Jones Jr.-Julio César González undercard. The fight was declared a no contest after two rounds because both fighters had cuts opened by a headbutt and they were unable to continue.
However, they had a rematch on March 3 of 2002 and Mayorga became the fifth Nicaraguan to win a title, by knocking Lewis out in the 5th round. Even though Lewis was very aggressive in the fight, Mayorga was able to withstand his attacks, and sent a flurry of right crosses which sent Lewis crashing to the canvas. As a result, Mayorga was crowned the new WBA's World Welterweight Champion.

Mayorga and then WBC Welterweight Champion Vernon Forrest quickly signed up for an unification bout, and on January 25, and in front of an HBO Boxing audience, Mayorga upset most boxing critics and experts by dropping Forrest in round one, and once again in round three, winning the fight by a knockout in the third, and becoming the WBA and WBC's Unified World Champion. On July 12, also in front of an HBO boxing audience, Mayorga and Forrest had a rematch, and this time Mayorga retained the title by a 12 round majority decision. The decision caused controversy among some, as many felt Forrest had won the fight. Many people were amused that Mayorga stuck his chin out to Forrest. In an interview, he stated why he did that. "I wanted him to know that he couldn't hurt me," Mayorga said with a smirk after the fight. "I know it's not a wise thing to want to get hit, and Mr. King told me after the fight that he doesn't want to see me doing that again, but it's what I wanted to do at the time. I wanted to let him know that I was the boss, I was his daddy, I was the champ."

On December 13, 2003, Mayorga lost his world titles, to Cory Spinks,the son of former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, by a majority decision in Atlantic City. This came after Mayorga had made tasteless remarks about Spinks's deceased mother. Mayorga apologized after the fight

Mayorga next would have fought for the WBA's version of the world Welterweight title on April 17, 2004 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York against the Puerto Rican champion, José Antonio Rivera. However, Mayorga showed up with six pounds over the Welterweight division limit, prompting an unexpected debut at the Jr. Middleweight division instead in which he beat Eric Mitchell by decision in twelve rounds

Mayorga was in a training camp for an upcoming fight on October 2 with Félix Trinidad, but Mayorga was arrested on September 3, putting his fight with Trinidad in serious jeopardy. However, soon after, he was arrested at Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, and his lawyer obtained permission for him to leave the country because he was leaving the country for a job that he had been contracted to do. Mayorga resumed his training once he arrived to the United States, having to face the criminal charges after his fight with Trinidad. Mayorga dropped Trinidad in round three of their confrontation, but he was dropped himself three times in round eight, the only three times Mayorga had ever been knocked down in his pro career, leading to a technical knockout loss.


On October 5, 2004, three days after his fight with Trinidad, Mayorga announced his retirement from boxing, but he returned to boxing, and, on August 13, 2005, Mayorga became a two division world champion by gaining the vacant WBC world Super Welterweight title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Michele Piccirillo of Italy, in Chicago.

On May 6, 2006 Mayorga lost to Oscar de la Hoya by TKO in the 6th round. Although Oscar de la Hoya had been very inactive in the ring, due to the high personal disregard Mayorga had against him, including saying that Oscar's people are behind Mayorga, and comments about his wife, de la Hoya decided to put the gloves back on and fight Mayorga.

SHOWTIME Boxing showcased Ricardo "El Matador" Mayorga in a boxing match against "The Aztec Warrior" Fernando Vargas on November 23, 2007, at a catch-weight of 164-pounds, 10 pounds higher than the Jr. Middleweight limit. Vargas stated that making 154-pounds was "too much for his body to take". It was rumoured that Vargas had to melt off close to 100 pounds to make 164 lbs.

In a closely contested bout, Mayorga defeated Vargas by majority decision. The scores were 113-113, 114-112, and 115-111. Vargas was knocked down in the 1st and 11th rounds and Mayorga dominated early and later rounds of the fight. Vargas was able to come back and take the middle rounds but he could not keep up at the end and went down once again in the eleventh round. Post-fight, Vargas officially declared his retirement.