Former three-division world champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley is coming out of retirement for a rematch with Nicaraguan fighter Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga.
According to a report by ESPN boxing insider Dan Rafael published on Saturday, a pay-per-view fight between the two veteran fighters has been scheduled for Aug. 29 at a still undecided location in Southern California.
The bout will mark the second time that Mosley is emerging from retirement to get back in the ring. The 43-year-old originally announced that he was hanging up the gloves in June 2012 after a unanimous decision loss to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. He unretired less than a year later, however, defeating Pablo Cesar Cano by unanimous decision in May of 2013.
Then, after an embarrassing sixth round stoppage defeat to Anthony Mundine six months later, Mosley announced his second retirement. At the time, Mosley said of his decision, “It’s a young man’s game. It’s time to step aside and let some of these young guys do their thing.” He would also state his desire to stick around the sport as a promoter and a trainer for his son Shane Jr. and other fighters. But of himself, Mosley was adamant. “It’s time to go. I’m retired.”
So now, why all of a sudden the change of heart for Mosley to lace ’em up again and give a rematch to a fighter in Mayorga who he soundly beat by 12th round knockout in 2009? Blame it on Twitter.
Mayorga, one of the sport’s great antagonists both inside and outside of the ring, had been throwing tweet jabs at Mosley for quite some time now. Here are some excerpts from the 41-year-old’s Twitter account (language possibly NSFW):
We were defeat @ShaneMosley_ easily but he es get strength of mono en last round as he es receive steroid en culo. rematch we KO him en dos!
— Ricardo Mayorga (@THEREALMAYORGA) May 9, 2015
We want to invite @ShaneMosley_ for revancha en Nicaragua. after we KO this abuelo en dos round we give him job of cleaning our dishes
— Ricardo Mayorga (@THEREALMAYORGA) May 11, 2015
Bad Spanglish aside, Mosley obviously did not take too kindly to Mayorga’s steroids accusations and ageist barbs. He would promptly fire back at Mayorga (language definitely NSFW):
@THEREALMAYORGA I have never used a steroid in my life. EPO cream for a month I didn't even know about 2002. STFU 😭 https://t.co/Ld3CvjD5iP
— Shane Mosley (@ShaneMosley_) May 9, 2015
What does revancha mean? And did this mother fucker call me grandpa? Is that abuelo? We are the same damn age #STFU https://t.co/nSxMkjuffr
— Shane Mosley (@ShaneMosley_) May 11, 2015
Mayorga’s Twitter vitriol only got worse from there (many of his recent tweets directed at Mosley are completely unprintable) and finally Sugar had seen enough.
Said Mosley, “Mayorga was talking s—, and I ran into him in Vegas. Things escalated and, boom, rematch.” The former pound-for-pound king also warned, “I am in the best shape of my life. I feel bad for Mayorga. No one knows how good I really am. I am going to kill him.”
Mosley also explicitly mentioned the Twitter war saying, “He’s been mouthing off on Twitter for months now. He needs to be shut up. If there’s anybody that needs his ass kicked, it’s him…I’m gonna give him a beating for his tweeting.”
It’s a huge statement to the reality of modern society that a Twitter spat can incite a couple of 40-something fighters to come out of retirement and get in the ring with one another. Maybe other than for the sheer bad blood, it’s hard to imagine such a fight generating much excitement with both boxers light years past their respective primes. Perhaps they should take Mosley’s advice about boxing being a young man’s game and apply it to the Twitterverse. Just leave the 140-character wars of words to the younger generations, gentlemen.
