

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

It appears like this isn’t some weird alcohol-induced dream of psychotics everywhere–Shane Mosley and Ricardo Mayorga will reportedly fight again in August. They first fought nearly seven years ago, when Mosley was coming off a very close loss at Welterweight to Miguel Cotto, and Mayorga was fresh off a bloated win over Fernando Vargas and presumably a few poor souls he bumped into on whatever terrifying street he lived on.

The first fight was close, so close it was actually hanging in the balance at the end, with Mosley finding it difficult to move the heavy “El Matador” and Mayorga using his normal strategy of trying to drunkenly cave in his opponent’s head/chest cavity/groin region.

In the 12th round, Mosley absolutely unloaded a picture-perfect left hook with basically no time left on the clock. Mayorga was done, having completed an odd feat–he had the distinction of being drilled by three of the best fighters of the late 90’s–Mosley, Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad.

Mosley enjoyed one more huge victory–a dominant, epic bashing of Antonio Margarito before losing battles to Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Father Time. Mayorga, despite the overwhelming opinion that he was dunzo as a fighter, (and really, aside from a confused, what-the-hell-is-in-front-of-me Vernon Forrest, he never really beat anyone of note) shit talked his way into one more rodeo a couple of years later. He was once again stopped late, this time by Cotto, who had no use for Mayorga’s fuckery.

So why in the holy hell is this thing happening again? And why is it happening now? Well this is boxing, so attempting to make sense of anything that happens here is like trying to decipher the metaphorical implications of an episode of True Detective.

But really, is it any more ludicrous than Keith Thurman vs. Luis Collazo? Is it any more vomit-inducing than Danny Garcia vs. Paul Malignaggi?

If anything, it will be a shit-load more entertaining than either of those fights. Certainly, the buildup to the fight will be. Mayorga has always been an unhinged lunatic. It’s part of his charm. It was fun to watch him try to murder some helpless foe and then light up a Marlboro while threatening everyone near him. It was entertaining to watch him crawl under the skin of every elite fighter he battled by calling them women.

Signed on the dotted line It’s official. He isn’t ready. He got real quiet when he saw me. He don’t want these hands pic.twitter.com/T6l2hO02Ew — Shane Mosley (@ShaneMosley_) July 9, 2015

But Mosley, who was always the quiet, soft-spoken gentleman, is through with the nice-guy stuff. Instead, he appears to be using his twitter feed to purge all of the anger and resentment a couple of decades in this sport will fill a man up with. He’ll give as good as he’ll get in the trash-talk department. Nothing here would really surprise any of us, would it? A punch-up at a press conference? Horrific insults spread over social media like an indestructible virus? The use of chairs, brass knuckles hidden in shorts, livestock invading the ring? I’m in. And I’m actually looking forward to it.

Of course, this fight could disappear into the ether as abruptly as it was mentioned, just another strange never-was, like Tyson vs. Toney. But if it does actually happen, though it will be a circus show, what a fucking circus show it will be. Sometimes, when we walk into a movie theater, we have to shut our brains off for a couple of hours.

It’s the only way to reason your way through two-and-a-half hours of watching grown men in costumes blast lighting out of a prop hammer while knowing they’re standing in front of a green screen and a sound guy eating a sandwich. And it’s okay, it’s good for us to shut down for a bit now and then.

So resist the urge to use reasoning and ignore the fact that this thing flies in the face of logic. If you can do it, you might enjoy a fun fight between two long-faded veterans.

Think of it as our Avengers. With a bit more swearing and homophobia.

This sport, huh?

Header photo by Gene Blevins/Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions