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HBO Championship Boxing
Shane Mosley vs.
Ricardo Mayorga

September 27, 2008
Home Depot Center
Carson, California
Featured Bouts:
Jr. Middleweight Bout
(12 Rds)
Shane Mosley (44-5, 37
KOs) vs. Ricardo Mayorga (28-6-1, 23 KOs)
WBC Welterweight Title Bout
(12 Rds)
Champion Andre Berto
(22-0, 19 KOs) vs. 15th ranked Steve Forbes (33-6, 9 KOs)
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Sugar Shane Mosley Returns To
Southern California To Face Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga
at the Home Depot Center in
Carson on Sept. 27
Mosley’s First Bout In Los
Angeles Area Since 2000
Los Angeles —Four-time world
champion Sugar Shane Mosley has agreed to tangle with former three-time
world champion and supreme
provocateur Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga at The Home Depot Center in
Carson, Calif., on Saturday, Sept.
27.
The last time Sugar Shane Mosley
stepped foot in the ring in Los Angeles was against Oscar de la Hoya in
2000 at STAPLES Center, in a fight
that catapulted him to boxing superstardom. Eight years later, on
Saturday, Sept. 27, Mosley will
return home to fight at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, a Los
Angeles suburb, for the first time
since that epic bout to face three-time world champion Mayorga in a
bout contested at the 154-pound
limit.
Tickets for the event priced at
$350, $150, $75 and $50 and are on sale now and can be purchased at all
Ticketmaster outlets, on the Web
at www.Ticketmaster.com
or charge-by-phone at (213) 480-3232. Tickets
are also available for sale at The
Home Depot Center Box Office, open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to
6:00 p.m. PT, and on event days.
Event suites, group packages and VIP packages are available by calling
1-877-AEG-TICKETS (1-877-234-8425)
or by visiting
www.aegtickets.com.
“It’s been eight years since I
fought at home and I can’t wait to fight at The Home Depot Center,” Mosley
said. “Mayorga’s a big talker and
I know things are going to heat up between us, but I’ve been down this road
before. All the talking in the
world isn’t going to help him when we step into the ring, that’s where Mayorga
will have to eat his words”.
Mayorga followed by saying,
“Fernando Vargas and all of his supporters in Southern California told me I
couldn’t back up the talk in
November but I did,” referring to his domination of former two-time world
champion “Ferocious” Fernando
Vargas at STAPLES Center on Nov. 23. “I will do to Mosley exactly what I
did to Vargas or even worse.
Mosley will have to prove to me he can stand up and fight the way Vargas tried
to do.”
President of Golden Boy Promotions
Oscar de la Hoya, who having fought both fighters has a unique vantage
point said, “I know Mosley and
Mayorga very well, having been in the ring with both of them and in all
honesty, nothing compares to
Shane’s speed or Ricardo’s power. That makes this a perfect clash of styles
and one that should result in a
great fight when the bell rings.”
Don King, Mayorga’s promoter, who
thinks Mayorga will win if he comes in at his best commented,
“Mayorga too often fights two
opponents, himself and the other guy. Shane Mosley should pray that Mayorga
continues to fight two opponents.
If Mayorga fights single-mindedly, nobody can beat him. The only person
that can beat Mayorga is Mayorga.
I predict Mayorga will put on one of the best performances of his life and
knock Sugar Shane Mosley out.”
Golden Boy Promotions Chief
Executive Officer Richard Schaefer, who is happy to be bringing Mosley back
to his Southern California fans,
responded, “Bringing Shane Mosley home to fight in Los Angeles has been a
goal of ours for years and finally
that dream has become a reality. Add in the great reception that Ricardo
Mayorga got when he beat Fernando
Vargas last year in Los Angeles and I’m sure this is an event that all
fight fans will want to see.”
Kery Davis, Senior Vice President
of Programming of HBO Sports, said, “September 27th should be an
exciting night of boxing and we
are really looking forward to presenting the action live on HBO. We have a
doubleheader on tap for the
evening and there is plenty on the line for all the fighters.”
Rod O’Connor, General Manager of
The Home Depot Center, said, “The Home Depot Center and AEG are
proud to partner once again with
Golden Boy Promotions and Don King Productions to bring another
marquee fight to southern
California boxing fans. In 2008, The Home Depot Center has hosted two of
boxing’s most storied matchups,
including Vazquez vs. Marquez III and De La Hoya vs. Forbes. Mosley vs.
Mayorga on September 27th will
complete the year’s greatest hat trick in boxing.”
A world champion in three weight
classes who has honorably worn the “Sugar” name, Sugar Shane Mosley,
36, (44-5, 37 KOs) is considered
one of boxing’s all-time best. A native of Pomona, California, Mosley won
his first title in 1997 when he
defeated Philip Holiday for the IBF World Lightweight crown. Mosley
successfully defended his
Lightweight title eight times, impressively winning them all by knockout.
Mosley
then skipped the junior
welterweight division and moved directly to welterweight. In his third fight
at 147
pounds, Mosley in 2000, defeated
Oscar de la Hoya for the WBC World Welterweight title, the first of two
wins over “The Golden Boy.” The
second victory over De La Hoya, in 2003, netted Mosley the WBC and
WBA Super Welterweight belts.
After two close losses to Winky Wright in 2004, Sugar Shane returned with
a vengeance, winning five of six
bouts that included two stoppage victories of Fernando Vargas, a win over
Luis Collazo and a razor-thin
decision loss to Miguel Cotto. On Saturday, Sept. 27, Mosley plans on starting
another winning streak at the
expense of Ricardo Mayorga.
Mayorga (28-6-1, 22 KOs), 34,
hails from Managua, Nicaragua. He burst upon the boxing world in 2002 in
his first world title shot against
then-World Boxing Association welterweight champion Andrew “Six Heads”
Lewis. A virtual unknown at the
time, Mayorga taunted his opponent by allowing him to punch him in the face
repeatedly while he left his hands
at his waist before sending the champion to the canvas with a thunderous
assault in round five that left
Lewis unfit to continue in the match. Few could have predicted at the time
that
Mayorga would shock the world
again when he took on Boxing Writers Association of America 2002 Fighter
of the Year Vernon “The Viper”
Forrest, who held the WBC World Welterweight Title when they met. Forrest
appeared to be as perplexed as
Lewis when the Nicaraguan bomber smothered him with a barrage of
combinations that sent him to the
canvas in the first round. Forrest lasted until just the third round before
the
referee waved off the beating.
Mayorga proved he was no fluke by agreeing to an immediate rematch with
Forrest where he notched a
majority-decision win. In his last 10 fights, Mayorga has faced five reigning
world
champions, four former world
champions and one world-ranked fighter.
Mosley vs. Mayorga is presented by
Golden Boy Promotions and Don King Productions with Mosley
promoted by Golden Boy Promotions
and Mayorga by Don King Productions and sponsored by Cerveza
Tecate and Southwest Airlines. The
bout will be televised live as part of a double header on HBO’s World
Championship Boxing beginning at
7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET. The co-featured bout will see WBC
welterweight champion Andre Berto
(22-0, 19 KOs) take on former IBF Super Featherweight champion
Steve Forbes (33-6, 9 KOs).
For more information, please visit
ww.goldenboypromotions.com.
- Press Release issued by Golden
Boy Promotions with a little editing from us (color, etc...)
Subject to change
(9/2/08)
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