The Fight Fans' Fight of the Year will take place on Oct. 2 in Madison Square  Garden when legendary three-time world champion Felix "Tito" Trinidad (41-1, 34 KOs) emerges from a two-and-a-half-year retirement to face the always dangerous and former WBA and WBC world welterweight champion Ricardo "El Matador" Mayorga (27-4-1, 23 KOs).
 

RICARDO “EL MATADOR” MAYORGA &
ZAB “SUPER” JUDAH CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 21, 2004 – MIAMI MEDIA DAY
(La Version en Español Esta a Continuación)

RICARDO MAYORGA, (through translator Tony Gonzalez)

“With the money I win from my bet ($100,000), I’m going to go back to
Nicaragua, buy a new limo or maybe two, and call them Tito.”

QUESTION: Have the hurricanes in Florida disrupted your training?
Ricardo Mayorga:  No, no interruptions at all because of the hurricanes.

QUESTION:  What do you plan on doing to stay away from Felix’s left hook?
Ricardo Mayorga: I prepare myself to either block it or take the punch, I’ve prepared for both of those, but most importantly I’m preparing to knock him out.

QUESTION: How do you think Trinidad’s layoff is going to affect the fight?
Ricardo Mayorga: It’s going to affect him immensely, we're basically looking at a Tito who is going to retire from boxing, and when a boxer retires from boxing he no longer has any heart. I don’t think Tito will be the Tito of old rather he’s just going to be a former shell of himself on October 2.

QUESTION: What makes you so confident at 160 lbs. against Felix?
Ricardo Mayorga: Generally good boxers don’t go down that easy and we know
that Tito has a weak chin and I think I can knock him out this time around because he’s been put on the canvas.

QUESTION: What round do you think that your going to knock out Tito?
Ricardo Mayorga: I predict that around three or five, I really don’t want to cause the Trinidad family any grief, so I will please ask the dad to stay close and do not let the fight go on longer than needed.

QUESTION: What is your game plan if the fight goes twelve rounds?
Ricardo Mayorga: In order for Tito Trinidad to be with me for 12 rounds he’s going to have to be born again -and  with a new jaw- because there is no way he’s going to withstand my pressure.

QUESTION:  What was your opinion watching Oscar de la Hoya’s fight against Hopkins this past Saturday?
Ricardo Mayorga:  My respect to Oscar, he proved to me that he was brave trying to stand in front of Bernard and bring it to him, I respect his decision to stay down on the canvas even though I felt he could have gotten up. But I think his time is up and I think it’s my time now.

QUESTION: What fighters would you like to take on after Trinidad?
Ricardo Mayorga: I would like to fight Oscar de la Hoya and Bernard Hopkins and “Sugar” Shane Mosley.

QUESTION: What do you think about Vargas coming back to fight in the middleweight  division, would you like to fight him?
Ricardo Mayorga: Of course, I’d love to fight Fernando Vargas, he loves fighting in the big fights and that’s something I’m crazy about. I would love to take that fight as well.

QUESTION: Is that $100,000 bet with Trinidad for real, and, if so, does it weigh on
your mind?
Ricardo Mayorga:  No, it’s a real bet, its not putting any sort of pressure on me and I’m going to make sure that he pays me after the fight, that $100,000.  With that money, I’m going to buy myself a limousine—maybe two—in  Nicaragua and name them “Tito” so that everyone can remember when I knocked out Tito Trinidad.

QUESTION: On a scale of one to 10, what do you consider your physical state to be
coming into this fight?
Ricardo Mayorga: I find myself at 20 because I’m a great fighter, I can’t wait to get my hands on Tito because the problems that I’ve had really haven’t been any problems, they pretty much fell off me and at this point I’m prepared to take on Tito.

QUESTION: How do you plan to deal with all of the Puerto Rican fans that Tito will
bring to the Garden?
Ricardo Mayorga:  In the type of shape that I find myself right now, training here at the Fight Club [in Miami], which is a great gym, I think there will be no distractions whatsoever and you’ve got to keep in mind there might be 16 thousand Puerto Rican fans in the bleachers, but I’m only fighting one in the ring, and that’s Tito Trinidad, so he better watch out.

QUESTION:  Why aren’t you giving Tito any more respect?
Ricardo Mayorga:  Please remind yourself of my previous comments, and my
opinion stays the same that Tito is retiring from boxing and I’m really, really having the thought that once you retire from boxing, boxing leaves your heart. That’s why I’m not respecting him as much as I would have before.

QUESTION: Is this the biggest fight you’ve ever been in?
Ricardo Mayorga: I would say that monetarily it would be the biggest fight of my career, and, obviously, by beating Tito I will gain much more fame that I have right now. I would say that it’s going to be a great fight and one that I’m going to be a victor in.

QUESTION: Do you think you’ll be at 160 from now on or are you going to go back down to fight Cory Spinks again?
Ricardo Mayorga: If I need to come down, I’ll come down to 154 pounds.  For
whoever I’m looking to fight, whether it be Oscar de la Hoya, Fernando Vargas, Winky Wright, or Shane Mosely, anybody who presents themselves at 154, and even at 160, if they want to come up.

QUESTION:  Do you think the De La Hoya/Hopkins fight was good for the fans or no?
Ricardo Mayorga: No, I don’t think it was a good fight. I think it was a boring fight and, like I said before, I do respect Oscar, he’s the only one who felt that punch, he’s the only one who knows if he could have gotten up, but I respect him just the same.

QUESTION:  How will you fight Trinidad?
Ricardo Mayorga: I can tell you this much: it will be a very active fight from my side. From the first round I’m going to be looking for the knockout. Hopefully, I’ll knock him out within three to five rounds. I know from my end I will be very active, and I don’t know if he’s going to get on his wheels and start running, but I know I’m going to be pressuring him for 12 rounds at least.

QUESTION:  Who was the hardest puncher you’ve faced, and what weight would you like to come in at?
Ricardo Mayorga: I’d like to go up at 158 or 159 pounds. For this fight, to get into this ring at this weight would be good. The hardest punch I’ve ever been hit with was probably Vernon Forrest, that’s probably the hardest I’ve been hit in my career.

9-22-2004

 

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