EL MATADOR

He calls himself "El Matador," but fights like a bull. People dismiss his ring alias as a comic incongruity. But fights can be won outside the ring, and it is in this "arena" that Ricardo Mayorga - who once was labeled on the cover of Ring Magazine, "The Craziest Man In The Sport" -- performs like a "matador."

May 2, 2006 - by Nat Gottlieb

Press conferences are Mayorga's bull ring. Outrageous taunts are the red cape he waves to enrage opponents, goading them into abandoning their fight plan and charge the heavy-handed fist he holds under his cape. If Ricardo Mayorga is crazy, there is a method to his madness.

For weeks leading up to his May 6 championship fight with Oscar De La Hoya at the MGM Grand on HBO Pay-Per-View, Mayorga has waved that red cape at the Golden Boy with a steady torrent of tasteless insults, including questioning De La Hoya's manhood, targeting his wife and even slapping him behind the head.

Which begs the question: has Mayorga gotten into De La Hoya's head? At 33, and a five-division champion, De La Hoya (37-4, 29 KOs) rarely gets rattled. Yet he has been visibly angry and expressed bitter feelings toward Mayorga at every press conference. People who know him say Oscar is really seeing red. And apparently, he wouldn't have it any other way.

De La Hoya says he deliberately chose Mayorga (28-5-1, 23KOs) knowing the maniacal Nicaraguan slugger would "help" prepare him for this fight, which Oscar has said will be his next-to-last before retiring.

"It's actually funny. But this is the reason why I took this fight," De La Hoya said. "After a year and a half off (19 months)...this is what I needed. And I want to take the opportunity to thank him for fueling the fire. I've never had any anger or disrespect toward nobody, except one man (Fernando Vargas), and I knocked him out. But this guy is even worse." And then turning to Mayorga, De La Hoya said in Spanish: "You have disrespected me, my wife and my people. I'm going to knock you out."

The sensible plan would be for De La Hoya to gradually break Mayorga down and then knock him out. But given his anger, will he play into "El Matador's" hands and go toe-to-toe, as he did in winning his second fight with Mexican macho legend Julio Cesar Chavez in 1998?

"Chavez was smaller and on the downside of his career, and he was never a big puncher like Mayorga," said longtime HBO commentator Larry Merchant. "Mayorga was the right, but dangerous choice. I think Oscar chose him because he thinks he can easily outbox him. So no, Oscar won't go toe-to-toe with Mayorga, unless he is weakened."

No matter how well De La Hoya thinks he has sized up Mayorga, he can't say he has truly gotten inside of the Nicaraguan's head. Mayorga, like James Toney, uses his brash public persona to keep people from getting close. But if someone could get in, they might find a glimpse of who he is at an Andalucian web site describing the mind set of bullfighters:

"Man, in his complex relationship with the fear of death, seeks to vanquish death in the arena. The bull, therefore is death personified. Triumphant, man has defeated death - today he is immortal." Certainly that might be the way Mayorga thinks after having survived a brutally impoverished childhood in Managua. Even the way he fights -- relentlessly attacking with power-punching abandon, suggests a life-or-death battle more than a boxing match.

There is also a surprisingly soft side to Mayorga, although De La Hoya shouldn't expect to see it. After making big money in two winning fights against Vernon Forrest in 2003, Mayorga - who likes romantic music and calls Ana Gabriel his favorite singer - spent $40,000 to bring lights to his mother's neighborhood in Managua. He also frequently travels from his home in Costa Rica to his mother's house, where he receives and helps out neighbors with money problems, sometimes 40 in a day, a Latino Don Corleone.

At press conferences, however, Ricardo Mayorga never takes off the "El Matador" uniform, and in fact often shows up in one. He has spent weeks disrespecting De La Hoya, yet in comments he made in 2004 during a teleconference for a fight with Felix Trinidad he said things which makes one wonder if his "act" is just that.

Asked, "What was your opinion watching Oscar De La Hoya's fight against Hopkins this past Saturday," Mayorga said: "My respect to Oscar, he proved to me that he was brave trying to stand in front of Bernard and bring it to him." And later repeated himself: "I do respect Oscar. He's the only one who felt that (knockout) punch (from Hopkins). He's the only one who knows if he could have gotten up, but I respect him just the same."

Just who is this man? Or what is this man? And how did Ricardo Mayorga suddenly burst on the scene and win the ultimate lottery prize in boxing: a guaranteed mega pay day with the sports' biggest cash cow.

Mayorga comes from a background typical of many Central and South American-born fighters: extreme poverty, fist fights in the streets, criminal activity, and then salvation through boxing.

Considering Mayorga's chosen alias, it's amusing to find out there are no traditional bullfights in Nicaragua. The bulls, docile humped-back Brahmas, are not gored, nor do they die in the ring, except from boredom. Much drinking goes on before volunteers - men and boys - are sought to ride the bull. By age 11, usually tanked on beer, Mayorga was among the kids riding them. Thus was "El Matador" christened.

Mayorga began his boxing career in 1993 with a thud, getting pummeled into submission in his first fight via a 6th round TKO by one Humberto Aranda. This future two-time world champ would ignominiously lose three of his first 11 fights. Conditioning, Mayorga admits, wasn't as high a priority as beer and cigarettes back then. "At the time, I was boxing for the hell of it," Mayorga said. "I wasn't taking care of myself. I would show-up at the weigh-in just to take a fight so I could have money in my pocket."

Mayorga might still be scrounging for beer and cigarette money had he not been discovered in dramatic fashion by Don King. King and his top assistant, Bob Goodman, were staging a "KO Drugs" show in Venezuela and were ringside when Mayorga happened to step in through the ropes. This was December of 2000, and Mayorga was 21-3-1, mostly against mediocre competition. That night his opponent was an unbeaten and much-touted local prospect, Adolfo Salazar, who was 15-0, all knockouts. The bell rang, the fighters felt each other out a moment, and then Mayorga threw his first punch and knocked the guy flat. Salazar got up, but Mayorga put his punching windmill in motion, landing heavy blows from several angles until the referee stepped in to stop the fight. King and Goodman exchanged looks, and later over dinner signed Mayorga for $25,000.

Two months later King put Mayorga in the ring against a club fighter, Elias Cruz (12-5), on one of his undercards. Having fought exclusively in minor league arenas in Central and Southern America, the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas was a huge step up, and might have been intimidating for any fighter, but not Mayorga. Playing the bull, he constantly charged while throwing right hands which to Cruz must have seemed like they came from a machine gun. Mayorga laid some real hurt on Cruz, knocking him out in the third round. Afterwards in the locker room, King lit a cigar, shared one with Mayorga, who also had his usual post-fight beer. A fly on the locker wall that night might have heard an exchange something like this:

King: Good job. How'd you like to fight for a title?
Mayorga: Sure, some day.
King: How does July sound?

July was just five months away, but the maestro had managed to get his new boxer a shot at the WBA welterweight belt worn somewhat precariously by Anthony "Six Heads" Lewis, who was 21-0-1. but was the weak sister among the division's champions. Say what you want about King, he knows how to turn a fast buck. Mayorga had a one-round audition in December of 2001, fought and won again in February and now was five months from grasping a championship belt.

When the Lewis fight came, Mayorga barely had time to warm up when he accidentally butted Lewis in the head, causing a bad cut. In the second round the bout was declared a no contest because of the cut's severity. Even having seen only one full round with Mayorga, Lewis was probably relieved to escape with his six heads and belt. Eight months later he was not so lucky. Taunting Lewis, firing bombs as if he'd drank a case of Red Bull, Mayorga took off some of Lewis' heads plus his WBA belt with a 5th round TKO. As is his custom, Mayorga showed up for the post-fight press conference smoking a cigarette, beer in hand. The media loved it. A star was born.

On a roll, King grabbed the dice again and lined up Mayorga's next fight with unbeaten WBC champion Vernon Forrest (35-0), who was coming off stunning back-to-back victories over previously unbeaten Shane Mosley, the reigning pound-for-pound king. Against such a formidable foe, "El Matador" decided he needed his cape.

At every press conference to hype the fight, "El Matador" unmercifully pounded Forrest with insults. Later, at the weigh in, Mayorga would step on the scale eating a slice of pizza, the message to Forrest being: I'm in great shape. Watch out! On the surface, Forrest seemed to be still oozing confidence from his Mosley victories. Maybe too much, Merchant said.

"After beating Mosley twice, I think Forrest didn't take a crude dude like Mayorga seriously," Merchant said. In the pre-fight press conference, Forrest was asked how he planned to fight Mayorga. "In terms of physical training and mental training, I prepared for anything," Forrest said. "Any possible scenario this guy might try to do, I prepared for."

Easier said than done. It is virtually impossible to "prepare" for Mayorga, because he has no set style in the pure sense of the word. The only certainty is that Mayorga will from the first bell fire clubbing right hands from every angle while charging forward. He disdains using the jab, perhaps thinking it unmanly. Mayorga will typically throw only about 40 punches per round, well below average. But 95 per cent of them are power shots, so Mayorga knows if he just connects on 15 to 20 per cent, it should be enough to put away any opponent.

"In the first round, Forrest saw openings he couldn't resist," Merchant said. "He hit Mayorga with a couple of hard shots that would have shaken most opponents, but didn't hurt Mayorga. I think that shook up Forrest."

After all his preparation, Forrest was not ready for the scenario that unfolded, getting knocked down in that first round by a rapid, five-punch flurry 10 seconds before the bell. Forrest got up in time and went to his corner, where the circuits in his boxing brain apparently shorted. A highly-skilled fighter, Forrest had been goaded by "El Matador" to abandon his style. Forrest charged out like the proverbial bull for the second round, and went toe-to-toe with Mayorga, who took the cape off his fists and tattooed Forrest with heavy shots. Forrest managed to survive into the third round when Mayorga pummeled him into submission and the fight was stopped. Score one for "El Matador."

Six months later came the rematch. This time, Forrest wisely skipped every press conference, although he did take an embarrassing tongue-lashing on a teleconference call. Mayorga called him a "faggot," and said, "Vernon Forrest is scared. He is going down. I am a super champion -- and I am super crazy." Forrest fought a smarter fight in the rematch, but still lost a close majority decision.

"El Matador" wasn't able to unhinge his next opponent, the slick-boxing, IBF champion Corey Spinks, son of a pretty tough bull in Leon Spinks. Spinks was fast-handed and smart enough to keep out of harm's way, and waltzed himself to a close, majority decision. Two points were deducted from Mayorga by an overly protective referee, which cost him a draw.

Undaunted by his loss, Mayorga followed that up with a tune-up fight against Eric Mitchell before he continued to test himself, this time against supreme power puncher Trinidad at Madison Square Garden. The buzz on the fight was huge, as reflected in the $4.5 million gross, third largest in Garden history. But like Spinks, Trinidad also just laughed off Mayorga's taunts and laid a beating on his game but overmatched opponent, who hit the canvas for the first time in his career en route to losing on an 8th round TKO.

Shortly after the fight, a despondent Mayorga announced his retirement, but soon changed his mind, coming back to beat Italian Michele Piccirillo by unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC junior middleweight title, which set up this fight with De La Hoya.

Having faced "El Matador," De La Hoya now gets the bull. It's going to be a war, and this time not one of words.