Ricardo Mayorga: The Nicaraguan Wild Man Who Twice Beat Vernon Forrest

Ricardo Mayorga was an unheralded Nicaraguan brawler who smoked in post-fight interviews and insulted nearly every opponent. In 2003 he twice beat the unbeaten Vernon Forrest to unify the welterweight division, and in 2005 he won a second world title at 154 pounds. The biggest nights of his career, against Cory Spinks, Félix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto, all ended in defeat.

Out of Nicaragua: Masaya, Managua and a Debut in Costa Rica

Ricardo Antonio Mayorga Pérez was born on October 3, 1973. Accounts of his birthplace do not agree. Wikipedia's infobox gives Masaya, while some other profiles name Granada. Most coverage, though, places his formative years in Managua, the Nicaraguan capital. A 2010 profile on The Sweet Science describes him climbing out of poverty there.

He turned professional on July 20, 1993, stopping José Morales in the third round in San José, Costa Rica. In January 1995 he won the Nicaraguan light welterweight championship, and between 1999 and 2000 he collected regional belts from the WBC's Central American and Caribbean body, FECARBOX.

A Headbutt, a Rematch and the WBA Welterweight Title

His first shot at a major belt came against the WBA welterweight champion Andrew Lewis. They met on July 28, 2001, but the bout lasted only two rounds. An accidental clash of heads opened a cut, and the result was declared a no-contest. The rematch took place on March 30, 2002, in Reading, Pennsylvania, and this time Mayorga knocked Lewis out in the fifth round. The win made him WBA champion.

Temecula, January 2003: The Night Vernon Forrest Fell

Vernon Forrest entered the fight 35-0. He held the WBC and Ring welterweight titles and had beaten Shane Mosley twice in 2002. He was bigger, had the longer reach, and went in as a heavy favorite.

On January 25, 2003, at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, Mayorga upset the odds. He put Forrest down in the first round and again in the third. After the second knockdown, referee Marty Denkin stopped the fight when Forrest could not answer his questions clearly. HBO carried the bout, and Mayorga lit a cigarette during his post-fight interview.

Las Vegas Rematch and "The Craziest Man in the Sport"

Forrest got an immediate rematch, and they fought again in Las Vegas on July 12, 2003. This time it went the full twelve rounds with no knockdowns. Mayorga kept up a steady barrage from awkward angles and badly shook Forrest in the tenth round, trapping him in a corner before Forrest held on. The Deseret News reported the scores: Ove Oveson had it 116-112 for Mayorga, Larry O'Connell 115-114 for Mayorga, and Jerry Roth 114-114. The majority decision meant Mayorga kept both belts.

The Ring's December 2003 cover called him the craziest man in the sport. He became known for open contempt toward opponents and made no secret of smoking and drinking away from the gym. In a 2010 interview with The Sweet Science he boasted, "When I knocked out the great Vernon Forrest I was smoking and drinking."

Atlantic City, December 2003: Cory Spinks Takes the Belts

On December 13, 2003, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Mayorga faced the IBF champion Cory Spinks with every major welterweight title at stake. Spinks went in as roughly a 5-to-1 underdog. Mayorga lost a point in the fifth round for hitting after the bell and another in the eleventh for punching behind the head. Those deductions mattered. Spinks won a majority decision, with one card even at 114-114. The other scores are reported differently by different sources: ESPN's report lists 117-110 and 114-112, while Wikipedia gives 117-109 and 114-112. Mayorga refused to accept the result. "I absolutely won the fight," he told reporters, according to ESPN, and he blamed the referee's deductions.

Madison Square Garden, 2004: Trinidad's Return

Next came Félix Trinidad, who had been out of the ring for about two years since his 2001 loss to Bernard Hopkins. They met at Madison Square Garden on October 2, 2004. Mayorga dyed his hair red and made a crude gesture toward Trinidad's fans at the weigh-in. In the third round he dropped Trinidad with a right hand, but Trinidad got up quickly. In the eighth, Trinidad knocked Mayorga down three times and referee Steve Smoger stopped the fight. Mayorga was hospitalized afterward.

A Second Title at 154 and the De La Hoya Promotion

Mayorga moved up to light middleweight. On August 13, 2005, at the United Center in Chicago, he beat Italy's Michele Piccirillo by unanimous decision for the vacant WBC title. According to Wikipedia, the belt was available because Fernando Vargas had been stripped of it.

His first defense was against Oscar De La Hoya, who had not fought since his September 2004 knockout loss to Hopkins. During the promotion Mayorga made personal insults about De La Hoya's wife and child, the two men shoved each other while filming a commercial, and days before the fight Mayorga threatened to withdraw until Don King raised his purse from $2 million to $2.5 million. On May 6, 2006, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, De La Hoya dropped him inside the first two minutes, put him down again in the sixth, and finished him with a long combination at 1:25 of that round. Mayorga landed only 58 of the 333 punches he threw.

Vargas, Mosley and a Final-Second Knockout in Carson

His November 2007 fight with Fernando Vargas began with a brawl at the first press conference. Mayorga tried to slap Vargas, and the two camps traded punches before order was restored. At Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 23, 2007, he knocked Vargas down in the first and eleventh rounds and won a majority decision on scores of 113-113, 114-112 and 115-111. Afterward he apologized and the two men made peace.

On September 27, 2008, he faced Shane Mosley at light middleweight at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The fight was close: entering the final seconds, two judges had Mosley ahead 107-102 and 105-104, and the third favored Mayorga 105-104. Mosley then put him on his hands and knees. Mayorga beat the count, and a short left hook dropped him flat on his back. Referee David Mendoza waved it off with one second left on the clock.

Cotto, a Blocked MMA Debut and the Mosley Rematch

In 2010 Mayorga tried mixed martial arts. He was due to face UFC veteran Din Thomas on a Shine Fights card in Fayetteville, North Carolina, that May, but Don King won an injunction arguing that his promotional contract covered the fighter, and Mayorga was pulled from the event. He went back to boxing and challenged Miguel Cotto for the WBA light middleweight title on March 12, 2011, at the MGM Grand. Cotto refused to brawl, led by five points on every card, and dropped Mayorga with a left hook in the twelfth. Mayorga stopped fighting moments later, and the fight was waved off at 0:53 of the round. He blamed an injured thumb. "I tried to finish the final round but the pain in my hand was too much," he told Fox Sports.

He finally made his MMA debut in Nicaragua in 2013. That debut was ruled a no-contest because of an illegal knee, and his remaining MMA bouts ended in defeat. He returned to boxing, won twice in 2014, and on August 29, 2015, met a 43-year-old Mosley again at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Mosley controlled a flat contest, and a body shot put Mayorga on his knees late in the sixth round. Mayorga protested that the punch was low and stayed down for the count at 2:59 of the round.

The Last Rounds and a Divisive Legacy

Mayorga kept fighting. According to Wikipedia's record, he won once more in Managua in 2017 and then lost his last three fights in Russia, Texas and Guatemala City. The last of those was a second-round stoppage against Lester Martínez in April 2019, which left his record at 32 wins (26 by knockout), 12 losses, one draw and one no-contest. He lost every one of his biggest fights against elite opponents, but the two wins over Forrest remain among the great welterweight upsets of the 2000s, and the persona that made him easy to dislike helped sell some of the decade's biggest promotions.

Sources

• Ricardo Mayorga, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Vernon Forrest vs. Ricardo Mayorga, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• On this day in history: Mayorga chops down Forrest to unify welterweight division, WBC (wbcboxing.com), undated retrospective
• Mayorga beats Forrest again, Deseret News, July 14, 2003
• Spinks vs. Mayorga fight report, ESPN, December 13, 2003
• Félix Trinidad vs. Ricardo Mayorga, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Michele Piccirillo, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Oscar De La Hoya vs. Ricardo Mayorga, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Shane Mosley vs. Ricardo Mayorga, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Still Smokin': Ricardo Mayorga tries mixed martial arts, The Sweet Science, 2010
• Cotto stops Mayorga in 12th, Fox Sports (AP), March 2011
• On this day: Miguel Cotto silences Ricardo Mayorga, Boxing News, retrospective
• Shane Mosley, 43, comes out of retirement to fight Ricardo Mayorga, ESPN, 2015
• Mosley, 43, stops Mayorga in 6th round of rematch, Fox News (AP), August 30, 2015