On Saturday night August 29th, Shane Mosley fights Ricardo Mayorga on pay-per-view. Do you remember the old question “if a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it still make noise?”
My question is this, who is going to pay to see this fight when Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN is showing two-division champion Leo Santa Cruz vs. three-division champ Abner Mares on free television?
At The Forum, in Inglewood, California the soon to be 45-year-old Mosley (47-9-1) , who in his last bout was stopped by Anthony Mundine, will take on Mayorga in a rematch of a spirited battle seven years after the original bout. Mayorga, who is 41, carries a record of 31-8-1 and has only fought twice in the last three years. While these two senior citizens of the boxing world battle it out to see who is put out to pasture first, two young hungry lions will do battle 25 minutes away at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Santa Cruz, 30-0-1, takes on Mares, 29-1-1, in what many people (myself included) believe is the best fight to date for the much maligned PBC series. The bout will be contested at 126 lbs. Santa Cruz last fought in the Mayweather/Pacquiao under card scoring a unanimous decision over Jose Cayetano. This will undoubtedly be a step up in class and the toughest test in the career of Santa Cruz. Abner Mares comes into this fight riding a three-fight win streak. He has rebounded from his shocking first-round knockout at the hands of Jhonny Gonzalez back in 2013. These two rivals have been on a collision course for some time now and on Saturday night on free TV we get to see it finally play out.
Two world championship fights were announced to take place in the fall. Gennady Golovkin vs. David Lemieux in October and Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in November. When the lights go on in Southern California and I’m faced with a choice of A) Paying to see two aging, way past their prime former champions or B) Having a chance of seeing a fight of the year candidate between two fighters in the height of their careers, on ESPN for free. I think I’ll save my hard earned money for the two fall pay-per-views, and I’m going to bet that most of the world will also.
