San Francisco's Mayfield makes statement in HBO debut

San Francisco's Mayfield makes statement in HBO debut
Mark E. Ortega
Martinez News-Gazette
October 29, 2013

VERONA, N.Y.—Last Saturday night, San Francisco junior welterweight Karim Mayfield took the biggest step in his career as he outpointed the durable Mauricio Herrera in their HBO televised ten-round attraction at the Turning Stone Casino & Resort in upstate New York. For Mayfield, it was his long-awaited debut on HBO.

Mayfield, 31, was able to outmuscle Herrera for most of the bout, utilizing his strength to back his opponent into the ropes and land vicious overhand rights almost at will. Mayfield was often criticized early in his career for falling in love with his overhand right but was able to work in some effective left hooks and uppercuts on the inside, landing more in combination than he has in previous bouts.



Herrera, 32, was coming off a competitive loss against 140 pound contender Mike Alvarado in April and many pegged him to upset Mayfield despite being a 3-to-1 underdog heading in. Herrera had moments where he was able to land a good volume of punches, but his lack of punching power was unable to keep Mayfield at bay.

Mayfield (17-0-1, 10 KOs) is trained by Virgil Hunter, the 2011 Trainer of the Year who also leads super middleweight champion Andre Ward among others. Mayfield stablemate Mike Dallas Jr. lost a controversial decision to Herrera (18-3 7 KOs) last year with Hunter in his corner, and Mayfield no doubt benefited from sparring with Dallas, among other quality fighters.

Hunter, who is as honest as they come in the sport, had rave reviews for Mayfield on his performance following the win.

“I thought that was the biggest performance of his career considering who he was fighting and how he handled the fight,” said Hunter moments after they walked into the dressing room following the victory.

“You can't go to the top just punching, he's showing and demonstrating he knows how to box and is learning his way around that ring, and he legitimately dominated Herrera. I'm really proud of him, I give him an 'A' because his intelligence was involved; he used his intelligence, and his smarts. He closed each round strong, he had an understanding of the rounds.”

Mayfield, who always sees ways in which he can improve himself, was a little harder on himself.

“He was definitely very game, but I thought it was going to be a little tougher,” said Mayfield.

“I would have liked to step my punch count a little bit more. I found myself trying to reserve a little power and energy thinking in my mind he was going to try and take me into deep waters. We had a great camp, great sparring, and overall it was a learning experience for myself. He had a great chin and I just know I gotta go back to the drawing board.”

Considering it was his first appearance on HBO, there was a bit of pressure to put on a show, and knocking out Herrera would have been a statement considering it was something that has yet to be done.

“Sometimes you can put a guy out, sometimes you can put him down,” said Hunter.

“He definitely put him down, you're talking about on the ground, I'm talking about putting him down in his mind. Herrera didn't try and win that fight after the first few rounds. He knew he was in a fight and knew if he got careless, he'd get hurt.”

“I know I had him in trouble a couple of times, I just feel that I didn't capitalize on it,” said Mayfield. “He was very tough and I missed a few shots coming over, I tried coming underneath a few times. Nevertheless, he was a game guy and I am just happy about the victory.”

Mayfield will finally get his just due after overcoming a difficult early start to his career where he took the undefeated records of a number of prospects that were in the stables of big name promoters.

“If you look at my record, I'm a throwback fighter,” proclaimed Mayfield.

“I was thrown in there early on with tough fighters. In hindsight, I feel as though it was a good thing. I fought a lot of other promoters' undefeated fighters that were up and coming prospects and I was the one that gave them their first loss. I definitely feel as though I should be looked at as a force to be reckoned with.”

With the win, Mayfield should move up the 140 pound rankings and position himself for a possible title shot in 2013. Juan Manuel Marquez fights Manny Pacquiao in December, meaning his 140 pound trinket will likely be relinquished. That could open the door for Mayfield to possibly fight for the vacant crown, maybe against Brandon Rios, who is coming off a Fight of the Year candidate against Mike Alvarado just a few weeks earlier.

“I'd like to fight any of the guys that is holding onto these belts. This is one of the best divisions right now in the sport. There are at least six guys that I feel are on a collision course and I feel as though I'm definitely one of those top guys. Only my last few fights have been at 140 pounds.”

Even though the fight was ugly at times, Mayfield definitely made a statement with the victory. After many years of working hard, his time looks as though it has finally arrived.

Mark Ortega is a staff writer for Queensberry-Rules.com and can be reached via e-mail at markeortega@gmail.com.