CARSON, CA – SEPTEMBER 27: Shane Mosley waits in the corner as the referee gives a ten count to Ricardo Mayorga of Nicaragua in the 12th round during their junior middleweight bout at the Home Depot Center on September 27, 2008 in Carson, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Leo Santa Cruz Wins Super, Shane Mosley Still Has 2:59 Sugar in California
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Los Angeles, CA (August 30, 2015)– On Saturday evening, August 29, 2015, the riddle of why two prominent televised boxing cards were staged 12 miles apart in Los Angeles and Inglewood, California, still has no answer. Add to the factors a Federal judge allowed 41 year old Ricardo Mayorga to fight, even though Don King still had him under contract and did not want him to, because the judge felt Mayorga’s future earnings would not be impacted because he has no future. Don King was busy the night before with a USA Showtime ShoBox card at Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, busy with his own heavyweight extravaganza card.
At The Forum in Inglewood, California, turns out Sugar Shane Mosley made sure the rematch of his twelfth round 2:59 knockout win over Mayorga even sweeter, knocking out Mayorga again at 2:59 of the round, this time six rounds earlier, at 2:59 of the sixth round. There was not significant purse money or pay-per-view buys for this grudge rematch, but the two combatants wanted it and so it was. Mosley, a former three division champion who had won only one of six fights coming into this affair at age 43, used his left jab to control the mostly uninteresting bout. A Mosley body shot finally dropped the out of shape onetime world welterweight and super welterweight champion Mayorga for good. Mayorga came in with two knockout wins in 2014 over undistinguished opponents, not enough for Don King to try to stop those old timer bouts. A rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. being unlikely, Shane Mosley’s career appears sugarless. Hopefully Ricardo Mayorga will retire as well.
Result: Sugar Shane Mosley KO 6 Ricardo Mayorga (2:59), Middleweights
This bout was a rematch of a 2008 bout won by Mosley at junior middleweight 153 pounds
Mosley, Pomona, California, is 48-9-1 with 40 knockouts. Mayorga, Managua, Nicaragua, is 31-9-1 with 25 knockouts. The telecast cost $49.95 per buy on televised independent pay-per-view, and $14.95 on Eversport.tv online.
The Mosley versus Mayorga card featured a female main event, two minute rounds. Yulihan Alejandra Luna Avila retained the International Boxing Federation female World Super Bantamweight championship with a ten round draw over Maureen Shea. Avila, form Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico, is 12-2-1 with one knockout. Shea, Bronx, New York, is 24-3 with 12 knockouts. This was the first bout in six years Shea did not win. Scoring was 95-95 Draw. 98-92 Shea. 97-93 Avila. Shea’s IFBA world title was not at stake.
Meanwhile, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions broadcast absolutely free on ESPN. Haymon’s main event saw two multiple division champions, Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares, go at it for 12 championship rounds like good old fashioned rock’em sock’em robots. A packed crowd of over thirteen thousand boxing fans watched the Fight of the Year so far end in a majority decision for Santa Cruz. This bout, and not bouts like Mosley versus Mayorga, is the kind of bout fans hunger for a rematch for, and justly do.
The answers in the slugfest were in the punch count, with Santa Cruz landing 373 of 1057 punches or a 35% accuracy rate, and Mares landing 227 out of 980 punches for a 23$ accuracy rate. Mares cry of robbery were foul, as Santa Cruz clearly outworked him. Both men earned 1.25 million dollars for the night’s work, a nice piece of change in the lower weight classes for a world featherweight title bout.
Both men had to fight through the bout with facial cuts, Mares in particular from an accidental head butt. Santa Cruz went head hunting, Mares went body hunting. However Santa Cruz had a nice long jab which kept Mares out of range and in the target for much of the bout, right hands followed by the jab. Both men kept throwing left hook and right hand bombs. Mares charged in like a matador for the kill, while Santa Cruz preferred punching in combinations as the bout reached the championship rounds. Mares face was swollen, though, and it told enough of a story for Santa Cruz to claim the win.
Result: Leo Santa Cruz Win Majority Decision 12 Abner Mares, Super Bantamweight
Santa Cruz wins vacant World Boxing Association Super World Featherweight title
Santa Cruz wins vacant World Boxing council Diamond Featherweight title
Referee: Jack Reiss. Scoring: 114-114 Draw. 117-111, 117-111 Santa Cruz.
Mares protested the decision, claiming he won the bout. Santa Cruz, Rosemead, California, is 21-0-1 with 17 knockouts. Mares, Montebello, California, is 29-2-2 with 15 knockouts.
On the Santa Cruz versus Mares undercard, Julio Ceja of Atizapan de Zaragoza, Mexico, came off the canvas to drop and stop Hugo Ruiz of Los Mochis, Mexico, in the fifth round to win the interim World Boxing Council World Super Bantamweight title. Ceja is 30-1 with 27 knockouts. Ruiz is 35-3 with 31 knockouts. Onetime contender Alfredo Angulo won his second comeback bout at super middleweight, cutting, dropping and stopping Hector Munoz, who did not answer the bell for the sixth round. Angulo, Coachella, California, is 24-5 with 20 knockouts. Munoz, Albuquerque, New Mexico, is 23-16-1 with 15 knockouts.
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