The Long Road to Redemption
'Global Glory' welcomes back some of boxing's most colorful champs

By Mark Dodge
Fightbeat Senior Staff Writer

Inside the long white corridor leading to his dressing room, Ricardo Mayorga stood with family and friends, surrounded by a hoard of reporters, boom lights and Spanish-language television crews. 

“I was going to knock him out in the first round, but I just wanted to play with his head,” the Nicaraguan strongman stated proudly, as a buddy held up his newly won WBC super welterweight title. 

The assembled media all laughed at Mayorga’s unabashed arrogance and instinctually moved in a little closer. 

On the monitors above their heads, the main event fighters – Hasim Rahman and Monte Barrett – were being introduced to the crowd.  Yet no one in the hallway gave them a second look.   

It had been nearly two years since Mayorga could call himself a world champion.  But judging by the excited throng around him and the reaction of the 15,101 screaming fans in attendance at the United Center Saturday night, whether they loved him or hated him, “El Matador” was the reason most were there. 

That’s because the biggest pay-per-view event of the year could very well be a title match between Mayorga and superstar Fernando Vargas, who is scheduled to meet Javier Castillejo next Saturday night at the AllState Arena in Chicago.  But neither Don King, nor Main Events (Vargas’ promoter), dared to look too far ahead until everyone got a peak at Ricardo last weekend. 

Since losing his welterweight titles and his aura of invincibility to Cory Spinks in 2003, Mayorga had shown up over the weight against Jose Rivera in 2004, losing out on a title opportunity.  Then he’d ventured up to middleweight, where he was embarrassingly knocked out by Felix Trinidad in Madison Square Garden last November.  

So the weeks leading up to his vacant title match with Italy’s Michelle Piccirillo were all about restoring Mayorga’s cockiness and his image as one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet.  And, on the public relations side, Ricardo didn’t disappoint.  He even went so far as to invite Vargas to the fight Saturday, offering to pay for Fernando’s ticket “in case he’s low on cash.”  

It was classic Mayorga … even if he didn’t necessarily look like his old self in the ring. 

“Michelle jumped on his bicycle because he couldn’t compete against me,” Ricardo insisted to reporters, hoping to head off any questions about the boos that had cascaded down from the cheap seats during the closing rounds of the fight.  “I’m the hardest puncher in boxing.  He just didn’t want any part of me.” 

Holding an Enswell against the back of his head to treat a rather large lump – courtesy of Mayorga’s rabbit punching – Piccirillo had a completely different take on his unsuccessful bid for the vacant crown. 

“Two of the three knockdowns he scored came from blows behind the head,” Michelle said, and the videotape replays seemed to back him up.  “He is a dirty fighter.  They should’ve taken away points from him for the way he fought.”  

Dirty or not, though, by the final round, Mayorga had shaken off most of the rust he’d shown earlier and was standing in mid-ring drawing a mock line on the floor … daring Piccirillo to cross it.  At that point, though, Michelle was just looking to finish the fight on his feet. 

The Italian champ was officially down twice in round two and once in round four.  He also crashed to the floor in round twelve, but it was ruled a slip.  Regardless, the decision was a landslide in Mayorga’s favor – 117-110, 117-108 and 120-105. 

“I like being the bad guy,” Mayorga said in response to the rabbit-punching claims by Piccirillo.  “And I like the boos.  I like people coming to see me fight and hating me.”  

Then he flipped an unlit cigarette in his mouth, for old time’s sake.  

This brought even more laughter from the same reporters who will no doubt be hanging on Vargas’ every word in a matter of days.  But none of these scribes were going to challenge Mayorga like the fans in the arena had. 

Backstage, the theme of the night was one of redemption and forgiveness.  And there was plenty of it to go around.   

Grabbing the “Bull” by its horns  

About an hour before Mayorga’s victory party began, a large contingent of Chicagoans had filled the long corridor than ran from the press room to the black drapes where the boxers entered the arena floor. 

An exasperated female producer for Don King Productions, trying to guide the camera crew that would follow Mayorga and Piccirillo into the ring, was shouting to anyone who would listen:  “What are all these people doing back here?  Where’s security?  Nobody’s doing their job.” 

If she’d been there a moment earlier, though, she would’ve realized what she’d stumbled upon was a McCall family reunion.  It was a sight to behold, too.  They had charged down the hall like a wave of runners at the start of a marathon – the former WBC heavyweight champion at the head of the pack. 

Zab Judah, the undisputed welterweight king, was one of the first to congratulate McCall when he passed by.  Judah was waiting outside of Mayorga’s dressing room with his brother, Josiah, who’d won a four-round split decision on the undercard against local journeyman Adam Stewart. 

“You did it,” Zab smiled.  McCall nodded, but he seemed too overwhelmed to say much of anything. 

“We’re back!  Oliver’s back,” someone from the McCall clan yelled, as the beaming 40-year-old stopped to wave at boxers Luis Collazzo, Luca Messi and Miguel Angel Gonzales, all of whom had come out of their dressing rooms to pay their respects.  

In a matter of seconds – from the moment McCall struck Przemyslaw Saleta with a right uppercut with a 1:15 remaining in the fourth round, until the giant Polish fighter collapsed on all fours – Oliver McCall had gone from also-ran to a major player in the heavyweight division. 

“He’s back in the mix,” Don King would repeat over and over again later that evening.  “Oliver’s back in the mix.” And it all came courtesy of a knockout punch that sent the hometown fans into a state of pure delirium. 

Unfortunately for Saleta, this wasn’t the predominantly Polish crowd that attended the Lamon Brewster-Andrew Golota fight in May.  When Golota bowed out after suffering a cut in sparring, apparently most of the Polish boxing fans did, too. 

Instead, the south side of Chicago was out in full force, and Oliver was on top of the world.  

“I can’t tell you how much this means to me to come back to this city, with so many old friends and family here,” he’d say at the post-fight press conference, where he mingled with three of the reigning heavyweight champs – Chris Byrd, Lamon Brewster and the newly crowned Hasim Rahman. “This is just an amazingly beautiful night for me.” 

It could also turn out to be a profitable night for him, as well.  Apparently, when King’s heavyweight tournament begins, McCall is going to be a part of it.   

In fact, Kevin McBride, the Irish heavyweight who defeated Mike Tyson earlier this year and who’s been clamoring for a title opportunity against WBA champion John Ruiz, was at the fight Saturday and attended the post-fight press conference, too.  But McBride seemed to be the only fighter not invited to the dais.  And he and assistant trainer Paschal Collins didn’t appear pleased with McCall’s sudden inclusion into the championship sweepstakes. 

Meanwhile, feeling about as awkward as Kevin McBride at a Don King press conference, were Saleta and his girlfriend, Kasia Kraszewska.  Both quietly hurried back to the boxer’s dressing room after the match, virtually unnoticed.  

“I’m very disappointed that I didn’t get the chance to fight Andrew Golota,” the 37-year-old Saleta stated, after examining his bruised face in the mirror.  “That’s the fight that got me out of retirement.  It would’ve been the biggest heavyweight fight in Polish boxing history.  But, when Golota got hurt and I was offered the fight with McCall, I thought it would be a shame to waste eight weeks of training.  So I took this fight.” 

Dressing quickly, Saleta stepped back out into the hall with the frail Kraszewska draped on his arm just as security rushed through to clear everyone out.  A flood of people attempted to squeeze themselves into the dressing area with McCall, and those who were turned away bum-rushed the press room to eat what was left of the free grilled potatoes and cherry cobbler. 

With a space now cleared for Mayorga and Piccirillo to make their entrances, it suddenly became apparent that, unlike all the other name fighters on the televised portion of the card, McCall’s dressing room didn’t include a preprinted name card identifying the boxer.  In its place was a piece of paper with the names Louis Turner, Volodia Lazebnik, Alex Bunema and Oliver McCall all printed in block letters with a magic marker. 

Before the fight, “The Atomic Bull” had been relegated to the community locker room. 

There’s a good bet he won’t have to share one next time out. 

‘Didn’t Drago kill Creed?’  

Meanwhile, as the clock ticked closer to midnight, the boos and the whistles inside the arena were deafening. 

Not captured by KingVision’s cameras were the hundreds of fans who had decided that eight boxing matches were plenty for one day and began heading for the exits as the tenth round of the Hasim Rahman-Monte Barrett fight was about to begin.  

With the crowd having peaked around 7:55 p.m., at the conclusion of the classic Alex “Terra” Garcia-Luca Messi war, each subsequent bout seemed to offer a little less excitement.  

Truth be told, the booing began towards the end of the Mayorga-Piccirillo fight, and it would’ve taken something special to revitalize the masses.  Unfortunately, “The Rock” and “Two Gunz” either couldn’t or wouldn’t deliver.  Before Jimmy Lennon Jr. could even read the unanimous decision in favor of Rahman, half the United Center arena was empty. 

“C’mon Rock!  Knock him out!  I want to go home,” a man yelled during the middle rounds, loud enough that it elicited laughter from a large section of the audience. 

Contrary to all the “love” being shown behind the scenes, those who had paid several hundred dollars for a ticket to the fight wanted a little more for their money than Barrett and Rahman were offering.
 

However, there was a brief moment in round two, when it looked like they were going to get their wish. 

With a little less than a minute gone in the round, Barrett landed a flush right hand that staggered the former world champ.  But Monte failed to capitalize.  And from the third round until Barrett staged another rally in the twelfth, the “fight” featured very little action. 

“I expected this to be a center-of-the-ring slugfest, but they outsmarted me,” Rahman said afterward, sporting a bandage above his left eye.  He’d suffered a small cut in round nine, after the two men banged heads.  Luckily for him, it wasn’t considered serious enough to postpone a bout with Vitali Klitschko, which the WBC mandated must take place before Dec. 1. 

“They tried to move a lot and get into the later rounds to tire me out,” he added, clearly ready to move on.  “But I was in terrific shape.” 

Though the punches were few and far between, the new “interim” champ did land enough hard jabs and straight right hands to cause an ugly swelling and cuts around Barrett’s left eye.  In the end, Hasim’s harder shots and Monte’s reluctance to engage during the middle rounds made the decision a mere formality.  

But the real fireworks began the moment the decision was announced.  The Barrett camp was visibly upset by the 116-112 and 118-110 (twice) scores.  In fact, Harold “The Shadow” Knight, a former super featherweight contender and Monte’s chief trainer, was beside himself.  

After the fight, an angry Knight apparently told one reporter that he believed King had somehow influenced the judges’ decision.  That statement got back to King, and this fueled a tirade by the outspoken promoter at the post-fight press conference.   

Knowing how angry King was, Rahman stood up for his friend at the podium, asking King not to forget Barrett when the expected heavyweight tournament begins.  

“I didn’t want to fight Monte,” he added.   “I was hoping Monte would fight Byrd and allow me to fight the next available contender for this fight.  But he signed the contract, so I had to sign it, and we fought.  It’s over now, and I’m behind him 100 percent.  I also think he’s going to be a great champion one day.  He’s got the heart of a champion, I know that.” 

Then, turning his attention to Vitali Klitschko, Rahman expressed a sense of relief that his shot against the Ukrainian giant was just around the corner.  

“Klitschko’s a puncher.  I feel like I’m a puncher.  And I think we’re going to stand in the center of the ring and make this happen,” Rahman stated. 

Then, looking back over his shoulder at Lamon Brewster, Rahman added: “Don calls Lamon ‘The Black Rocky,’ because he knocked out one Ivan Drago.  When I knock out the other one, I wonder what he’s going to call me?” 

Smiling, Brewster quickly responded, “Apollo Creed.” 

“No, no, no,” Brewster insisted.  “Didn’t Drago kill Creed?  He killed him right?” as the audience laughed. 

“Creed?”  Rahman said with a smile. “I don’t think so, man.”

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