May 12, 2008
Boxing
Mayorga targets fighters; Vargas retires
After winning by majority decision, Nicaraguan may challenge Cotto, Mayweather
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LOS ANGELES - Ricardo Mayorga wants to fight in a lower weight class and possibly take on Miguel Cotto or Floyd Mayweather.
Fernando Vargas will now turn to projects outside the ring.
Those were the main points of discussion Friday night after Mayorga scored a majority 12-round decision over Vargas at Staples Center, winning an exciting bout on the strength of knockdowns in the first and 11th rounds.
Few expected the bout to go the distance. Mayorga had said he didn't believe it would go beyond three rounds, and Vargas said six.
Perhaps even more surprising was the post-fight news conference, which turned into a veritable lovefest. After the pair exchanged hugs, Mayorga apologized to Vargas for disrespecting his wife and mother. He then walked over to his opponent on the dais and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
While Vargas said he thought he won, he had nothing but kind words for Mayorga as well.
"When all was said and done, he was the better man tonight," Vargas said.
Vargas also repeated what he said before the fight - that he was retiring from the ring.
"Luckily, I don't live just for boxing, I have other things that I'm doing," he said. "This will be my last fight. I thank all my fans for all they've done for me, from the bottom of the my heart. Luckily, I have a phase two, and three."
Vargas, who turns 30 on Dec. 7, looks to become a promoter, and has some plans to act.
Both fighters weighed 164 pounds at Thursday's weigh-in, and Mayorga said he'd like to drop to 147.
"This weight was too much, this gentleman hits way too hard," he said through a translator. "You saw the fight. I have a lot of fight left in me."
Judge Max DeLuca had Mayorga winning 115-111; Glenn Trowbridge had it 114-112 for Mayorga, and David Mendoza scored it 113-113. The Associated Press had it 114-112 for Mayorga.
The former world champions exchanged punches in the middle of the ring through most of the bout, with Vargas growing stronger in the later rounds. But it wasn't enough thanks to the knockdowns.
Mayorga, 34, began celebrating midway through the final round during brief lulls in the action. There weren't many of those all night.
Mayorga, a three-time world champion from Nicaragua, improved his record to 28-6-1 with 22 knockouts. Vargas, a two-time world champion from nearby Oxnard, finished his career with a 26-5 record and 22 knockouts.
The bout matched a pair of once-prominent fighters who were each idle for more than 15 months and lost two of their previous three fights.
Vargas hadn't fought since July 15, 2006, when he was stopped for the second time in five months by Shane Mosley. Mayorga had been idle since May 6, 2006, when he was stopped by Oscar De La Hoya.
The World Boxing Council Continental Americas super middleweight title was at stake. The bout had been scheduled for Sept. 8, but was delayed after a blood test revealed Vargas had an iron deficiency.
Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun
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