Ricardo Mayorga

Ricardo Mayorga (born October 3, 1973) is a former boxer from Nicaragua who was the former world's undisputed Welterweight champion.

Mayorga, who enjoys lighting up a cigar everytime he wins a fight and who is a confessed smoker of two packs of cigarettes a day when he is not doing his boxing training, is also the first Costa Rican to win a world boxing title, because, apart from being Nicaraguan, he also became a Costa Rican when he obtained Costa Rican citizenship in the 1990s.

Mayorga stepped into professional boxing with the wrong foot, being beaten by a knockout in six in his first professional bout by Humberto Aranda in 1993.

Sad but otherwise undaunted by defeat, he came back in 1994 to win three fights, all by knockout, including the third round knockout win over Jose Morales, which was his first career win.

His first fight in 1995 was also his first fight in Nicaragua, and it was fought for the Nicaraguan Welterweight title. Mayorga won the title when he knocked out Miguel Perez in six rounds. After two more knockout wins, he defended it in a rematch with Perez, and the second time, he defeated Perez by a knockout in three.

He then took off three years from boxing, and when he returned, in 1998, he beat German Espinales by a knockout in four, but in his next bout, he lost a ten round decision to former Edwin Rosario rival Roger Flores. After the Flores bout, he fought Henry Castillo and suffered his second loss in a row, also by decision in ten.

In his next fight, in 1999, he beat Porfirio Miranda by a knockout in one round. After one more win, he gained revenge against Castillo, defeating him by a knockout in seven, and then he met Jose Cordova for the Central American Welterweight title. He added that belt by beating Cordova by a decision in twelve.

After one more win, Mayorga went to Puerto Rico to meet Cuba's fringe contender Dyobelis Hurtado, a boxer who had faced Pernell Whitaker and Kostya Tszyu in world title tries, among others. Mayorga and Hurtado came up with a technical draw in two rounds, and in his next fight, Mayorga lifted the WBA's Latin American Jr. Middleweight belt with a two round knockout of Marcos Avendano. A rematch with Espinales for the Fecarbox Welterweight title, brought Mayorga exactly the same result as their first encounter: A four round knockout win, and another minor title belt.

He won seven more fights in a row, including 2 defenses each of his WBA Latin American and Fecarbox belts, until, on July 28 of 2001, he challenged the WBA's world Welterweight champion Andrew Six Heads Lewis at the Los Angeles Roy Jones Jr.-Julio Gonzalez undercard. The fight was declared a no contest after two rounds because both fighters had cuts opened by a headbutt and they were unable to continue. However, they had a rematch on March 3 of 2002 and Mayorga made history, becoming the first Costa Rican world champion ever, and the fifth Nicaraguan to win a title, by knocking Lewis out in five rounds.

Despite winning the title and achieving those accomplishments, Mayorga was still not considered to be the real champion in the division by most experts: Vernon Forrest, who had taken the WBC's world Welterweight championship from Shane Mosley and defeated Mosley again in a rematch, was considered by many to be one of the best fighters, regardless of fighting division, around the world.

Mayorga and Forrest quickly signed up for an unification bout, and on January 25, and in front of an HBO Boxing audience, Mayorga upset most boxing critics and experts by dropping Forrest in round one, and once again in round three, winning the fight by a knockout in the third, and becoming the WBA and WBC's undisputed world champion.

On July 12, also in front of an HBO boxing audience, Mayorga and Forrest had a rematch, and this time Mayorga retained the title by a 12 round majority decision.

A woman in Managua accused Mayorga, on July 26, of hitting her after she allegedly tried to collect a debt of 7,500 dollars on Friday, July 18. Mayorga says he wasn't in Managua that day; he said he was in El Sauce.

Mayorga announced he would visit Iraq to do a boxing exhibition tour in front of United States military personnel. That visit, however, has yet to happen.

Mayorga was featured for the first time on the cover of Ring Magazine on the December 2003 issue, released in October. The cover read The craziest man in the sport: Mayorga lights up boxing.

On December 13, Mayorga lost his world titles, to Leon Spinks' son, Cory by a majority decision in Atlantic City.

Mayorga next would have fought for the WBA's version of the world Welterweight title, on April 17 of 2004 at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, against the Puerto Rican champion, Jose Rivera. However, he showed up with six pounds over the Welterweight division, prompting for an unexpected debut at the Jr. Middleweight division instead of a world Welterweight title fight. He beat Eric Mitchell by a decision in twelve rounds at his Jr. Middleweight debut.

On June 10, 2004, Mayorga was once again charged by the police, this time regarding an attack and threat that Mayorga did against a young man in Managua. Mayorga denied any involvement in a violent incident.

On September 2, he was declared a fugitive by the Nicaragua police, stemming from a woman's accsation of Mayorga raping her. Although not neccesarily a real fugitive, as Mayorga was in a training camp for an upcoming fight on October 2 with Félix Trinidad, Mayorga was arrested on September 3, putting his fight with Trinidad in serious jeopardy. However, soon after, he was arrested at Managua International Airport, and his lawyer obtained permission for him to leave the country because he was leaving the country for a job that he had been contracted to do. Mayorga resumed his training once he arrived to the United States, having to face the criminal charges after his fight with Trinidad.

Mayorga dropped Trinidad in round three of their confrontation on the above mentioned date, but he was dropped himself three times in round eight, leading to a knockout loss (see:Trinidad versus Mayorga).

On October 5, three days after his fight with Trinidad, Mayorga announced his retirement from boxing, but he is now scheduled to fight Alejandro Garcia.

Mayorga's record: 27 wins, 5 losses and, 1 draw and 1 no contest, with 23 wins coming by knockout.