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Mayorga Should Lay Off The Anti-Gay Trashtalk…WOODS

Published

13 years ago

May 26, 2011

MosleyMayorgaFinalPC_Hoganphotos_8 THURSDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Scroll to end of story to see Mayorga response to his homophobic Tweets. Follow Woods on Twitter @Woodsy1069 (http://bit.ly/goiHb2).

Ricardo Mayorga is maybe the best trash talker in the boxing business, if you don't dismiss him from contention because he frequently engages in crude talk bordering on the utterly vulgar.

In the last couple days, Mayorga has gone from pushing the envelope to going way over the line as he's been baiting MMAer BJ Penn on Twitter, taunting the Hawaiian master in what looks like an attempt to lure the UFC fighter into a boxing match.

The 37 year-old Mayorga (29-8-1), last seen in a boxing ring on March 12 losing a reasonably close decision to Miguel Cotto, got cooking on May 21. He promised that he'd knock out young gun Canelo Alvarez if and when they scrap in September, then taunted Floyd Mayweather for posting pics of himself on various social networking sites.

“You loves guys and beat up women,” he wrote to Mayweather, and tens of thousands of strangers.

He then moved on to ribbing Din Thomas, an MMA fighter who was slated to fight Mayorga last year before the tussle was scrapped because Mayorga's promoter Don King got an injunction to stop the clash. Mayorga then promised he'd slaughter a chicken named “Pavlik” but not before he'd make it drink a beer, playing on Pavlik's battles with the bottle. He next aimed his mud at MMAer Nick Diaz, who has been flirting with a fight with boxer Jeff Lacy, before getting into more questionable territory.

Mayorga said “”MMA is for maricons,” maricon being a nasty Spanish term for a gay person.

Mayorga mixed in the occasional bon mot, lauding Bernard Hopkins as a “true legend.” It seems like Mayorga is more inclined to compliment you if you are far out of his weight class…

On May 22, he stepped up the snarly. He called White a “bald puto,” termed James Toney a “fat hippo,” and slammed MMA as a sport created by homosexuals. “Boxeo is for real men,” he wrote.

I confess, Mayorga sometimes makes me giggle. But the anti-gay stuff, dismissing MMA as a sport for “maricons,” that material isn't kosher. He may be posturing, he may be clowning, it may just be hype…but it's hurtful to the people who train in the sport and more so, to gay people.

Listen, I don't wear a “Political Correctness” badge. Kobe Bryant was recently fined for using a nasty slur, and to an extent, I defended him, because to me, I examine your intent. If someone is using a term out of habit, out of ignorance, I'm prone to cut them some slack, frankly. But I suggest maybe Mayorga should examine his motives, and his speech patterns, and his mindset. I'm pretty damned sure there are one or two gay mixed martial artists who could crank and yank the boxer into a pretzel, and snap his arm in two if they tussled, by the way.

Please, anyone who follows me on Facebook, for instance, knows my language can get salty, and I'm not afraid to ream, for example, hypocritical politicians who stand up for the top 1%, the richest of the rich, their “base” while the rest of the have nots wallow in an economic quagmire. These are the wretches we in the media should be roasting. We get in a tizzy over incidences like the Kobe situation, and more recently fellow hoopster Joakim Noah for calling a fan a f****t, while allowing politicians in a position to influence rules and regulations, and religious leaders, in a position to influence their followers to be respectful of non heteros, free reign to spread their bias and hate-speech.

There are times when, yes, I think we could all take a step back, get some perspective, and stop being so darned sensitive. I'm Irish, and don't take offense at “Irish are alkies” cracks. But some cultures, some segments of the populace I think deserve an extra level of sensitivity. With some chuckleheads in positions of power demeaning gays by maintaining that they “choose” their “deviant” lifestyle which the schmucks argue will land them a spot in Hell, I think it is incumbent on the rest of us to combat that idiocy, and do what we can to change attitudes.

To his credit, BJ Penn didn't get into the gutter with Mayorga, even after Mayorga wrote on May 25, “I challenge you like a man. we fight mma gloves, knees, kicks, elbows – no rolling on ground like mmaricons- you have cojones?”

Penn cooly answered on May 23: “Your wasting your time looking for a payday with me…we will see who the real fighter is when I see you!!”

White, gearing up for Saturday's UFC 130 at the MGM in Las Vegas, didn't take the bait, save for a quick blast dismissing the boxer as a “punching bag.”

TSS asked White if it's possible we'd see Penn, who is by the way a solid boxer, with a smooth, steady jab, and excellent balance and footwork, which could translate well into the ring from the cage, fight Mayorga in a boxing ring. White's response?

“No! Mayorga is looking for a payday.”

White agreed with TSS that Mayorga is doing himself no favors showing bias against homosexuals on Twitter.

“Yes, he is a Hispanic macho man,” White said, and that brings up a good point. Mayorga grew up in some serious slums in Nicaragua. He and five siblings lived with his mom and dad, who beat Ricardo with a belt often, in a one-room residence, with a dirt floor.

His attitude, his hardness, doesn't come from nowhere. There's a reason for it. But that doesn't mean he can't learn, understand that his trash talk can go over the edge, from amusing antics to something darker. I'm not expecting a kinder, gentler Mayorga in the future. But I'd love to see him back off on the “maricon” talk; he can be edgy, and amusing, without going there.

UPDATE: On Thursday night, Mayorga addressed this issue. “A lot of people have called Ricardo and said his comments have hurt the gay community in the MMA world. Ricardo apologizes for any pain caused-insists all the talk was done for promoting both sports, not his intention to hurt the gay community.”

It is unclear who handles his account, and sent out this message. But nevertheless, I'm happy that some good has come of this whole kerfuffle.

WOODS ON TWITTER. http://twitter.com/#!/Woodsy1069 Please don't follow me if you think it's OK to be biased against gay people, or use the Bible as a shield for your hate. Thanks.

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Michael Woods

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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