Mayorga peppers Cotto with verbal jabs

The former world welterweight champion, who retired from boxing in 2008 after being knocked out by Shane Mosley, returned to the ring last month and beat Michael Walker. The win led to an opportunity to fight WBA super welterweight champ Miguel Cotto on March 12 at the MGM Grand Garden.

How much Mayorga, 37, has left is debatable. But when it comes to talking trash, he showed this week he’s still in his prime.

“That belt you are holding, polish it up for me because I will be taking it on March 12,” Mayorga (29-7-1, 23 knockouts) told Cotto on Wednesday as the promotion for their fight began in New York. “I will make a promise here that I will knock you out in four rounds.

“I have been watching all of your fights the past two months. You are punch drunk. You can’t take a punch anymore, and I will retire you. Like (Antonio) Margarito after the (Manny) Pacquiao fight, you will be thinking about retiring when I am done with you.”

Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) responded: “I am a professional fighter, and I know what my job is. My job is to fight in the ring because nobody wins a fight with their mouth.”

Mayorga kept going.

“This is the first time I will fight someone that is as small as a kid,” he said. “I think my pants are taller than you.”

Countered Cotto, “With those little pants, I beat Shane Mosley. Do you remember him?”

This promises to be one fight where the hype will be entertaining.

■ PACQUIAO ON SHOWTIME? — Manny Pacquiao’s May 7 fight with Mosley might be broadcast on Showtime pay per view instead of HBO, which has televised the majority of Pacquiao’s fights in recent years.

ESPN.com reported that multiple sources indicated that Top Rank chairman Bob Arum cut a deal with Showtime, owned by CBS, in the hopes of using that network as a promotional vehicle for Pacquiao’s fight. Pacquiao appeared on “60 Minutes,” CBS’ news magazine show, the week before he defeated Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13.

Arum and other Top Rank officials are not talking. But the company plans to make a major announcement Wednesday regarding the pay-per-view broadcast.

■ WINKY RETURNS — Golden Boy’s first Las Vegas fight card of the year is scheduled for April 9, and plans are being finalized to have two great Mexican champions — Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales — meet in the main event at the MGM Grand Garden.

As part of that card, former world junior middleweight champion Winky Wright will face European middleweight champ Matthew Macklin.

“He is still one of the big names in the sport,” Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said of Wright (51-5-1 25 KOs), who has not won a fight since 2006. “He’s a future Hall of Famer who can still drive ratings and fan interest.”

Schaefer met with Marquez on Thursday and hopes to finalize the Marquez-Morales main event, which will be televised on pay per view, this week.

“Marquez always wanted the opportunity to face Morales,” Schaefer said. “We met with Marquez and made him an offer, and it wasn’t quite what he expected. We’ll talk again next week and see if we can get a deal done. But one way or the other, we will have a pay-per-view card at the MGM Grand on April 9.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.