Knockout Nation: Mosley v. Mayorga This Saturday! Williams Fights Showcase Bout 9/25, Trinidad Calls Hopkins a “Coward,” Greatest KOs of Last 30 Years

Mosley Battles Mayorga on HBO 9/27 “Sugar” Shane Mosley (44-5, 37 KOs) is set to battle wild-swinging Nicaraguan Ricardo Mayorga (29-6-1, 23 KOs) in a free bout featuring two of the more recognizable names in the sport. Mosley is returning to the ring after a 10 month layoff due to a proposed May fight with […]

Mosley

Battles Mayorga on HBO 9/27

“Sugar” Shane Mosley (44-5, 37 KOs) is set to battle

wild-swinging Nicaraguan Ricardo Mayorga (29-6-1, 23 KOs) in a free bout

featuring two of the more recognizable names in the sport.

Mosley is returning to the ring after a 10 month layoff

due to a proposed May fight with Zab Judah being canceled. Despite not being in

the ring since November 2007, Shane’s stock remains strong because of his

competitive losing effort against Miguel Cotto.

For Mayorga, his appeal never rested in his pound for

pound ranking or competition, but with his off-color antics in and outside the

ring.

Since losing the undisputed welterweight title in his

first defense back in 2003, Mayorga has gone 3-2. Those fights include two

beatdowns to Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya, and an entertaining points

win over a shot Fernando Vargas last year.

Sans Vernon Forrest, Mayorga has been outclassed by

every elite fighter he’s shared the ring with. This Saturday’s fight with

Mosley should be no different, as Shane will have a marked speed and skill

advantage, not to mention an iron chin to withstand El Matador’s inevitable

haymakers.

Expect Shane to shrug off an occasional bomb and

destroy Mayorga on the inside with hooks to the body and head. Mosley’s not a

big puncher, so Mayorga should be able to hang around and give fans their

money’s worth before succumbing around the 8th round.

This is nothing more than a showcase bout so be wary of

overrating Mosley based on how fantastic he looks against such a limited

opponent.

On the undercard, rising welterweight star Andre Berto

(22-0, 19 KOs) defends his WBC crown against scrappy Steve Forbes (33-6, 9 KOs)

for the WBC welterweight title.

The light-hitting, undersized but fearless Forbes has

his work cut out for him, but showed in a losing effort against Oscar De La

Hoya in May that he can hang with a much larger and skilled opponent.

While Berto will miss a lot due to Forbes’ defensive

skill, “Two-Pound” won’t have enough pop to make his younger foe pay for his

mistakes and keep him honest.

The likely result will be a clear Berto decision win

setting up a clash with Shane Mosley for early next year.

Paul

Williams Fights Live 9/25 on Versus Network

After mopping the floor with Carlos Quintana in their

June rematch, Paul Williams faced a dilemma; every top ten welterweight refused

a fight with him.

Newly crowned champ Antonio Margarito first expressed

plans to fight Joshua Clottey in November, turning down a proposed $4 million

offer for Williams’ camp. Suddenly, Margarito then decided to take off the rest

of the year to recuperate from his war with Miguel Cotto in July.

Cotto, who was knocked out in that July bout, is still

licking his wounds and obviously wouldn’t take such a dangerous comeback fight

against the Punisher.

And unfortunately for Williams, the remaining top ten

either refused (Cintron), are tied up (Mosley, Berto), or couldn’t be booked at

such a last minute (Clottey).

So instead of waiting, Williams is making a leap to

middleweight to face fringe contender Andy Kolle (17-1, 12 KOs) this Thursday

at 9PM on the Versus network.

Harking back to the 40’s and 50’s were fighters would

fight regularly every month, Williams plans to take another, more high-profile

bout on one of the bigger networks in November. By doing this, he keeps his

name out there and builds credibility from 147 to 160 lbs.

“I’m not upset I’m not fighting a big name,” Williams

explained to maxboxing.com this past Sunday (September 21). “Bottom line is,

the guys with the big names didn’t want it. So we’re not going to sit around

and wait for them and say, okay, we’ll fight them when they’re ready. No, we’re

going to keep moving.”

Although Kolle is relatively unknown and had a decision

loss to super-middleweight contender Andre Ward back in 2006, the fight does

pose some risk.

Williams is a light hitter even at welterweight, let

alone jumping two weight classes to middleweight, where he has not fought since

2001.

Even so, the Punisher’s willingness to take the risk is

admirable, and here’s hoping more big name fighters take notice of his

initiative.

Felix

Trinidad Says Hopkins is Afraid of Rematch, Calls Out De La Hoya

Former welterweight kingpin and middleweight titlist

Felix Trinidad is once again making noise about returning to the ring in 2009.

The past prime but still popular Trinidad was easily

disposed of by equally faded Roy Jones in January, but that hasn’t stopped Tito

from issuing challenges as if we’re back in 2001.

Speaking with Spanish paper El Nuevo Dia, Trinidad

stated “I want to fight Hopkins, but he won’t give me a rematch because he is

afraid to face me. I’ll possibly have two more fights in 2009, [the second]

against Oscar De La Hoya.”

Rumbling of a rematch with De La Hoya have been ongoing

for nearly 10 years, and at this point I doubt even the mainstream public cares

much at this point.

Regarding Hopkins, it’s not crazy to believe the lower

punch output but higher foul dealing Executioner of today would beat up Tito

worse than he did in their 2001 encounter.

Since it appears Trinidad may have suffered a little

amnesia regarding that fight, here’s a reminder.

Trinidad vs. Hopkins Rounds 10-12

Throwback

of the Week: The Best Knockouts of the Last 30 Years

In actuality this chilling highlight reel relies more

on footage from the 80s and 90s, but you’ll still get the point. Relive some

best knockouts in recent memory to a great Hip-Hop soundtrack. Some of the

featured KOs include:

Gatti vs. Gamache

Norris vs. Mugabi

Mercer vs. Morrison

Jackson vs. Graham

Donaire vs. Darchinyan

Ruddock vs. Dokes

Hearns vs. Duran

Hearns vs. Cuevas

Green vs. Codrington