Two of the more exciting fighters in the world are going to be getting together on March 12 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, as Miguel Angel Cotto, who has only lost to Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao as a pro, defends his WBA 154-pound belt against Ricardo Mayorga, who has held titles in the welterweight and super welterweight divisions.
This may be one of those fights where you throw the betting numbers out the window.
Cotto is the favorite at boxing odds of -1200, with Mayorga bringing back a price of +600 as the underdog.
That price is big, but if Ricardo Mayorga has demonstrated one thing in his boxing career, it’s that he is not to be underestimated.
He has seemingly spent a career exceeding expectations. The native of Nicaragua was not necessarily highly-touted in his early career, which featured losses to Roger Flores and Henry Castillo and included a few years when he fought out of Costa Rica (a hotbed of online gaming activity but not necessarily boxing) and so it surprised many when he stopped the feared Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis for the WBA welterweight crown in March 2002.
Many pundits then expected Vernon Forrest, the talented former Olympic fighter, to make quick work of him, but instead, it was the other way around. Mayorga knocked out Forrest in three rounds, then beat him by decision in the rematch and made himself a hot commodity.
Mayorga had a brutal fight with Felix Trinidad in October 2004 which resulted in defeat, but then won his second world title (the WBC 154-pound crown) when he dominated things against Michele Piccirillo. And his last major win came against Fernando Vargas, a man who purportedly possesses far more natural talent.
So with his all-angles aggressive style and punching power, plus that attitude that you are going to have to take him out on a slab to beat him, he may just have the formula to send Miguel Cotto back on his heels, which makes him someone to consider at +600 in the Bodog boxing odds.
