Trinidad vs Mayorga Pre-Fight Analysis

On Oct 2 Felix “Tito” Trinidad and Ricardo El Matador” Mayorga are on a roller coaster collision course for the Vacant WBA North American Middleweight Title and NABC Middleweight Title.  

Trinidad is making a comeback after a 21/2 year hiatus, his record was a spectacular one, he first annexed the IBF Welterweight title by kayoing Maurice Blocker in two rounds in 1993, he made several defenses of his crown and annexed titles in three different higher weight classes, outclassing Oscar De la Hoya, Fernando Vargas, Pernel Whitaker and David Reid along the way, before finally suffering an 11^th round technical knockout at the hands of Bernard The Executioner Hopkins in the 2002 Middleweight Unification championship, it was his first loss in 42 fights, he retired with a record of  41-01 (34 kayos) A legend in his time. 

Mayorga is a loud mouthed, chain smoking brawler from Nicaragua who first exploded into boxing limelight in 2003 by destroying Vernon Forest of the Shane Mosley fame in devastating fashion in the 2^nd round unifying the WBA and WBC Welterweight titles in the process. Prior to that he had crushed WBA champion Andrew Six Heads Lewis twice and was the long time reigning WBA Fedelatin Light Middleweight champion. His championship reign ended at the hands of Cory “The next Generation” Spinks who outboxed him in a stinker that prevented Mayorga from landing one of his bombs. 

In analyzing this fight you have to remember that Trinidad is prone to flash knockdowns only to get up and overwhelm his opponent, he is a tireless puncher who moves forward applying constant pressure forcing his opponent to fight and be worn down by his punches, Mayorga on the other hand has not suffered a knockdown in recent memory and he views his opponents as highly repugnant bugs to be immediately squashed  before the rear an ugly head, he proceeds to throw unrestrained bombs with the soul intention of decapitating the head with one shot.  

Both are straight out offensive fighters who do not know how to fight going backwards, each has power and they will be straining at their chains foaming at the mouth anxiously waiting to begin unleashing wild uppercuts at each other, most unlucky will be the person caught first. The fight may not go the distance. 

This fight however showcases several problems with selecting contenders for a title, Trinidad should not have been in line to fighting Mayorga for these titles especially after 2 1/2 years exile from the ring, he is courting trouble because he is fighting a very confident Mayorga who has threatened  “I will send him back to Puerto Rico in a stretcher” and has fought 37 rounds since his retirement.

On paper and by past antecedents Trinidad should be the favorite to beat Mayorga, most boxing experts have it this way too, but Fighters are usually advised to box their way into the game slowly by fighting journey men to shake off ring rust and sharpen dulled boxing skills before taking on the champions of division.

Coming back too soon against a championship calibre fighter may result in an brutal beating that could potentially put thorns on the comeback trail, and if you doubt this just ask Mike Tyson who made a much expected comeback against a Danny Williams a current and active titlist who kayoed him finally destroying his awe inspiring personae.

Championship boxers who should know better are usually guided down this path of disaster by money, pride, poor management and reading too many clips about their abilities,