Shane Mosley faces Ricardo Mayorga in a fight for the aged
Shane Mosley, right, knocks the sweat out of Ricardo Mayorga at Home Depot Center in Carson on Sept. 27, 2008.
Train wreck, the boxing promotion.
Saturday’s pay-per-view bout between elderly ex-champions Shane Mosley and Ricardo Mayorga at the Forum is a fight that probably shouldn’t have been made in the first place.
Mosley, now 43, beat Mayorga, 41, by knockout in the the 12th round when they fought in 2008 at Carson.
Mayorga (31-8-1), a former two-division world champion, has taken separate breaks of two years and three years from the ring since his Mosley loss.
As for Mosley (47-9-1, 39 knockouts), the former lightweight, welterweight and super-welterweight champ is 1-4-1 since 2009.
The Pomona fighter has bankrolled the Saturday promotion himself, telling The Times he has spent $1 million to fund the $49.95 pay-per-view card. Tickets start at $35. Mosley said he needs 30,000 PPV buys to break even.
It’s an even harder sell because Mosley-Mayorga is going head-to-head with the anticipated Southland showdown Saturday night between multi-division champions Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares at Staples Center and broadcast on ESPN.
Mosley makes light of fans who’ll watch Santa Cruz-Mares instead. “They can watch whatever they want on ESPN, or whatever it is, but come on, who else should they watch? I’m a living legend,” Mosley explained.
Mosley said his physical and brain tests rank him in “the top one percent” of men his age, and maintains he doesn’t need the money. “I have millions and millions of dollars.”
He’s fighting again, “because I want to prove everybody wrong. They’re saying I’m washed up. I want them to see I’m still better than a lot of guys. I can still fight. Like Bernard Hopkins [age 50], I feel good, I don’t drink. I just work out. I eat organic.”
Mosley’s most recent bout was his first loss by stoppage, a November 2013 technical-knockout loss to Anthony Mundine in Australia that followed unanimous-decision losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez from 2010 to 2012.
“I don’t want to go out on that note … I want to come back with a knockout … to show I’m at the top of my game,” Mosley said. “Remember when George Foreman came back and heard all that about he was too old? He won a world title.”
Mosley wasn’t such a bold talker during his peak, when he defeated Oscar De La Hoya twice. But he has worked feverishly to liven up the Mayorga promotion.
He slapped Mayorga in the face at the opening news conference, then was scolded by the World Boxing Council on Wednesday for staging a scene this week when Mayorga slapped the rear end of Mosley’s girlfriend.
Mosley also interrupted his training to fly to Miami last week, winning an injunction against Mayorga’s former promoter, Don King, who was trying to stop the Saturday bout.
“We won, and now it’s time to win the next battle,” Mosley said.
Twitter: @latimespugmire
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