He Is Fighting a Losing Battle

LAS VEGAS —  Ricardo Mayorga stood in the ring of a small gym just off the Vegas strip Thursday afternoon, away from the crowds, removed from the sound and the fury he had generated the previous 24 hours, and, before beginning what he called a “secret” workout, made two announcements:

-- He will drop his threat to walk away from Saturday night’s championship fight against Oscar De La Hoya, even though his demand that his $2-million purse be quadrupled will not be granted.

“Nicaragua needs a champion,” said the fighter who was born in Managua. “That’s why I am going to fight.”

-- His promoter, Don King, “stole” money from him.

“It is not resolved,” said Mayorga of his financial dispute. “Don King didn’t keep his word. He stole from me.”

Mayorga wouldn’t elaborate. That was to be expected. In a desperate search for more money for defending his World Boxing Council super-welterweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Mayorga has been pointing a finger in all directions, claiming larceny, claiming he had additional funds coming beyond his signed contract, but declining to identify the source of those funds.

The deal Mayorga had agreed to called for his side to receive $4 million, half of which would go to King.

But in the months leading to the fight, Mayorga has been taking advances on that purse, advances that total about $1.7 million, according to sources.

“I’ve damn near paid him the whole amount already,” King said.

The promoter said he has since added about $500,000 to Mayorga’s share and the Nicaraguan fighter will also get a percentage of pay-per-view buys over 600,000.

Still, looking at the amount left in his purse after the advances, considering the taxes he must pay and the financial shares he is obligated to hand out to his cornermen, Mayorga fumed when he heard wild estimates that De La Hoya’s purse was between $20 million and $30 million.

In reality, De La Hoya will receive $8 million plus his percentage of the pay-per-view over 600,000. The figure, however, can be misleading since De La Hoya’s company, Golden Boy Promotions, is staging Saturday night’s show. Therefore, De La Hoya could theoretically pay himself any amount he wanted.

All Mayorga knows is that he is the champion and he wants more of the revenue.

First, he took his case directly to his opponent, De La Hoya, who, in this case, is also the lead promoter. Mayorga demanded a meeting before a Wednesday news conference at which he asked for more money from De La Hoya.

“It’s sad,” De La Hoya said in recounting the scene Thursday

De La Hoya pointed his finger at Mayorga’s promoter as the cause of the fighter’s frustration.

“I’m looking at Don King,” De La Hoya said, “thinking, ‘What have you done, again?’ ”

Richard Schaefer, who runs De La Hoya’s promotional company, refused to budge when Mayorga threatened to pull out of the fight.

“That’s extortion,” Schaefer said. “That’s illegal. I don’t know what things are going through his crazy head. This is his opportunity. There is no question that if he doesn’t go through with this fight, he will never fight here again. There will be huge repercussions.”

Mayorga went through his usual routine in the Wednesday news conference, flexing his muscles, issuing his threats of inflicting great bodily harm and even presenting De La Hoya with a dress bearing the words “The Golden Girl.”

But as soon as the news conference ended, Mayorga reissued his threat, saying that he had accepted the original offer only to “lure” De La Hoya into the ring, with the idea he would get more money later, the idea, he seemed to indicate, coming from King.

King seemed tired, uncharacteristically docile Wednesday, standing in the background as Mayorga ranted and raved. The 74-year-old King had come directly from Cleveland where his 83-year-old wife, Henrietta, had undergone cancer surgery earlier in the week.

Mayorga later confided, said a source, that he knew he wouldn’t get an additional $6 million but was hoping to bully his way into an extra $2 million to $3 million.

Wednesday turned into Thursday and still, there was no word from Mayorga.

“I don’t know if he’s changing his mind,” King said. “He ain’t got no mind.”

Finally, as expected, Mayorga backed down. Two million, or whatever is left after all the advances parceled out by King, is still beyond what Mayorga could have ever comprehended in his youth.

*

Before Mayorga stepped into the ring Thursday to resume training, his mother, Miriam Perez, clasped both her son’s calloused hands in her soft hands as he prepared to end his threatened pullout, put a finger to his lips, made the sign of the cross on his chest and kissed both of his hands while repeating a blessing she has uttered since her son first emerged from the streets of his native Managua to become a professional fighter: “Your hands are a diamond in the rough. May God bless your hands.”

The Mayorga family -- Miriam, father Eddys, and five siblings -- long depended on their personal warrior to provide for them in the years when poverty almost consumed them. Eddys was a taxi driver, Miriam a waitress, but putting food on the Mayorga table was often a struggle. They once went three months subsisting on mango fruit sprinkled with sugar. Mango and rice was a common meal in the Mayorga household.

Mayorga, who had to sleep on the floor as a kid because of a shortage of beds, conceded that stealing was often the only way to procure food.

“Those are the hands that put food on our table,” Miriam said Thursday in looking at her son.

Now those hands are capable of putting $2 million on the table. But as Mayorga found out over an embarrassing 24 hours, no more than $2 million.