King Thinks Mayorga’s Trash-Talking Bothers Cotto

Las Vegas, Nev.–If MIGUEL COTTO loses to Ricardo Mayorga in their super welterweight title fight March 12^th here at the MGM, then it’s Top Rank founder Bob Arum’s fault. That’s what Don King, Mayorga’s promoter, thinks anyway.

The basis for King’s contention comes from Arum’s offer, should Mayorga win, to consider pitting him against eight-time, eight-division champion MANNY PACQUIAO. That provided the motivation for Mayorga to train as if he were fighting for his life.

“[Arum] put this spark in this crazy man,” said King during a special talk March 10 with Arum moderated by boxing commentator Al Bernstein. “All he could see was Pacquiao, Pacquiao, Pacquiao.”

Arum knew he “would incentivize Mayorga” to go all out in preparation for his showdown with Cotto by holding out the possibility of a Pacquiao fight. “This fight is gonna be one helluva fight. It’s gonna be one hellacious battle,” he said.

The two boxing legends compared the Mayorga-Cotto promotion to the classic first entry in the Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran wars of the 1980s. Given that Leonard was a more skilled fighter, Duran decided to wage psychological warfare against him, including needling Leonard’s wife.

It worked. And for the first part of the 1980 bout in Montreal–which, incidentally, was the birth of the pay-per-view model for boxing matches–an enraged Leonard fought Duran’s fight. That is, he stood toe-to-toe with Duran and traded punches. Though Leonard later calmed down and boxed, it was too late, and Duran won.

Similarly, King thinks Mayorga’s endless insults of Cotto and his trainer, Emanuel Steward, have begun to bother the Puerto Rican superstar. “Mayorga has gotten under his skin,” he said.

If true and Cotto follows Leonard’s lead by going punch for punch instead of boxing Mayorga, then it’s gonna be a long night for the champ.

“Oh, Ricardo, Ricardo!” King intoned. “You must rise up!”