By Jake Donovan

Shane Mosley expected Ricardo Mayorga to attempt to save face following a controversial moment earlier this week. He just didn’t expect others to join the bandwagon and without first gathering all of the facts.

Mayorga once again made headlines for all the wrong reasons after slapping the rearend of Trista Pisan—Mosley’s girlfriend and also Vice President of Operations for Mosley Promotions—while all parties were on stage during Tuesday’s pre-fight press conference ahead of their rematch this Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The incident was immediately met with an enraged Mosley charging towards Mayorga with the intention of choking him before the two were separated. 

Cooler heads prevailed, but the brash Nicaraguan found himself on the defensive after catching flak from observers. After allegedly receiving a lecture from Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega, Mayorga insisted through a video that he was put up to the task by Mosley in efforts to drive sales at the box office and in the Pay-Per-View market, with the bout carrying a $50 televised price tag.  

The World Boxing Council piggybacked on Mayorga’s “confession”, releasing a statement on Wednesday condemning what the Mexico-based sanctioning body described as “the embarrassing fight simulation between Shane Mosley and Ricardo Mayorga at their press conference.”

Mosley took to his social media account—which he has effectively used to promote Saturday’s show—to dismiss Mayorga’s claims, insisting what took place on Tuesday was not staged and that he plans to make him pay on Saturday.

However, the interjection by the WBC—who has no involvement in the show—has prompted his staff to fight back. 

“This statement was released in regards to the bad judgment exercised by Mayorga who slapped Ms. Pisani on her back side as their final press conference was ending,” Mosley (47-9-1, 39KOs) said in a reply released through his press office. “The notion that the WBC would comment on this terrible act against a woman (in an executive role no less) without first examining the facts and at the very least picking up a phone and calling Team Mosley to hear their side of the story on the events that took place is very disappointing and frankly is appalling.” 

Mosley served as WBC champion at welterweight and super welterweight earlier in his career and always enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the organization. However, he and his company are left “extremely disappointed with the recent comments made by WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman.”
 
More troubling than the incident itself, is the fact that several parties chose to instead question its validity rather than speak out against sexual harassment. 
 
With that, Mosley—through his press office hopes the WBC will reconsider its decision to make an uninformed statement based on outside opinion.

“When a woman is potentially violated, the WBC has a responsibility to tread more carefully and owes Ms. Pisani an apology.”  

The matter is just the latest in a string of bizarre events leading up to their rematch. The bout comes seven years after their first fight, in which Mosley scored a last-second knockout of Mayorga in their Sept. ’08 HBO headliner at Home Depot Center (now known as StubHub Center) in Carson, Calif. 

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com.
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
Facebook Page: JakeBScene