Ricardo Mayorga Shocking Rape Allegation: Wikileaks Claim Cover Up
By Sean Farrell
Former boxing fan favorite, welterweight and junior middleweight champion Ricardo Mayorga, 29-7-1, may have been spared a harsh prison sentence from a rape accusation in exchange for political support and cash in his native Nicaragua, in a cable released by the infamous Wikileaks.
The controversial news released a published confidential U.S. intelligence document that stated that Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega offered protection to the popular boxer during his rape trial in 2004.
“In September 2004, boxer Ricardo Mayorga allegedly raped a young woman in a Managua hotel. Sensing an opportunity to blackmail Mayorga, Ortega and the FSLN agreed to protect the boxer in the courts if he would give the party a large portion of his international boxing winnings and “advertise” for Daniel in public.
Mayorga agreed, and an FSLN judge found him not guilty in December. Much of Mayorga’s winnings now reportedly go to Ortega, and when Mayorga fought in Chicago in August 2005, he dedicated the fight to Daniel, wore the FSLN colors, and flashed the number of the FSLN slot on the Nicaraguan electoral ballot (“casilla”) to the international media.”
Mayorga, in other words, in return for his freedom, was allegedly to function as a source of funding and as a political puppet spreading propaganda for Ortega’s leftist regime. Interestingly enough, after the Supreme Court in Nicaragua had initially cleared Mayorga in the Managua rape case, a lower court found “irregularities” in the trial and in 2005 ordered a retrial, only to be blocked by the Supreme Court, which squashed the lower court’s ruling, again effectively clearing Mayorga.
FSLN stands for (Sandinista National Liberation Front), a leading political party in the country that has been in the middle of Marxist propaganda and violence. In December of 2004, Mayorga was acquitted of all rape charges in a Nicaraguan court of law. The Associated Press stated:
“Former welterweight champion Ricardo Mayorga was found not guilty of rape after a closed-door trial that ended Tuesday. Judge Julio Cesar Areas cleared Mayorga after a 17-hour hearing. A woman accused Mayorga of raping her at a Managua hotel in September. He acknowledged having sex with her but said it was consensual.”
The boxer has denied any truth being behind the Wikileaks cable. “Absolutely not true,” Mayorga said as he returned to Nicaragua after his victorious comeback fight against Michele Piccirillo.
The now 37-year old Mayorga, who is still extremely popular in his homeland, won his most recent outing via ninth round TKO against Michael Walker on December 17,2010. Ricardo Mayorga’s last fight before this one was against Shane Mosley in September of 2008. Where Mayorga was decimated by Mosley before he finally suffered a KO defeat in the 12th round.
Mayorga has since expressed his interest in facing the pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao but the mad scientist of the sweet science is set to fight Mosley in May. Mayorga could possibly face the junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto in March in Las Vegas if the fight gets finalized.
Given the accuracy of the Wikileaks and the uproar it has brought about within the political media and the world’s leaders, there isn’t much credibility in the statement Mayorga made claiming this was not true. With this recent turn of events with the already troubled boxer, there is no telling if he will ever be perceived in America as a credible boxer or credible human being.