this is what I am thinking.... Mayorga with thhose tiny gloves has to have mad power and can decapitate a fighter... the problem is connecting in a sport where it's not only boxing. I remember a while back when there was talk of Mayweather comming to mma, Din was one of the first guys to say on national tv that he would fight anyone of the boxing athletes.
actually he called out Mayweather and Cintron... I just found it [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLLTd5NhHoE[/ame]
OK...Thomas has copacetic stand-up by MMA standards, but those giving him the edge in that department over Mayorga need to put down the pipe. Having said that, Mayo in the wide world of mixed martial arts could be a hard-punching fish out of water (or, to twist the metaphor a bit, in a large ocean full of aquatic life better-adapted to the depths). Clearly a learning - if not mastery - of the fundamentals of modern integrated MMA techniques can be achieved in a relatively short period of time, as evidenced by the relative success of other transplants from different contact sports. However, is 5 months enough time for someone who's never grappled to learn how to grapple? Never seen a submission to learn to defend against one? Never blocked a leg kick to learn to block one? That interview with Mayorga above was posted on 9/23/09 (presumably it was fairly new, for the sake of argument we'll say it was recorded on or shortly before that date). He stated he had just begun training techniques other than boxing (ie jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai). Shine III is in early March. That's just barely over 5 months of integrated MMA training. Is that enough? :think
I want to know what weight this will be at. Mayorga is currently fat and has now business above 147 in boxing so 145 in MMA. Will he make that weight though? Mayorga has a good chin and good power but at this stage how much does he have left? Technically, he is one of the worst fighters I've ever seen. Following on from what Ibutt says is 5 months enough? What has he been doing? Will it all be sparwling, scramble, stuff the take down, be aware of the subs? Really does depend on what he intends to do with his MMA knowledge. Who knows... but it'll be interesting to see. I do want to see some training vids.
Training vids would be nice. I really hope he's fired up and taking this seriously and actually being a sponge with his MMA instructors, and not just "showing up" to cash a chump change check while he waits for the Don King bull**** to blow over...seeing him get embarrassed badly in a non-effort would be even sadder than seeing him give it his all and fall short - and would make a huge dent in my ability to continue supporting him as a fan. If you're gonna do something, play it to the bone.
Mayorga barely took the sport he loved and made a living out of seriously enough to remain a professional, 0% he makes any meaningful improvements outside of it. Few leg kicks, takedown, game over.
No one gets to the level Mayorga was at without serious effort. Just being able to box for 10 rounds is a serious athletic accomplishment. I'll give you links to a couple of fighters with not so impressive records that are from the state in which I reside. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=5150&cat=boxer http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=4144&cat=boxer The reason both of these fighters stick out in my mind is I witnessed a physical given to them for the same fight card. Both had a pulse of 48 per min. Both trained at least 5 days a week. Neither have accomplished near of what Mayorga has. Mayorga not only exhibited the ability to go the distance, he was able to do it with victorious results against world class fighters. Mayorga defeated Forrest and Vargas over the course of 12 rounds. That is, of course, after he had annihilated "6 Heads" Lewis and Forrest. Mayorga is rough, tough, and serious enough to have over a 1/2 hour of fight in him. I won't argue with that number. A most likely outcome. I feel that Mayorga gets sold too short in his field because of his promotional antics. Mayorga makes a great effort to be, and most always is, entertaining.
People really need to shake loose the mental image of Mayorga as the caricature that he seems to be typecast as. Go watch some of his fights again (or for the first time if you're one of those who just parrots what everyone else says with no firsthand experience). The man clearly trained, and could clearly box. So he smoked some cigars and threw some haymakers. The last two sentences are not mutually exclusive. :roll:
Maybe he is just waiting for Don King to release him, fight 1 or 2 MMA fights then go back to boxing under a different promoter.
I'm not trying to say he lacked the disicpline to become a great fighter, he did very well for himself and was always in shape. But in the last years of his career the effort to maintain that level and get the most out of himself just did not appear to be there.