Boxing
Mayorga’s Punch Can Chop Down Trees...But What About A Forrest?

Janne Romppainen

06.07 - Even though it is merely a half-way stage, it is already safe to say that year 2003 has been a splendid year for boxing. Apart from few big-time mismatches such as Hopkins-Hakkar and De la Hoya-Campas we have been enjoying from various great moments. There has been slugfests, brilliant boxing displays and drama to satisfy every boxing fan and better yet, maybe the best fight of the all, the rematch between De la Hoya and Sugar Shane Mosley is still to come.

On Saturday, 12th of July we get back to where it all started. The exciting slugfest between Ricardo Mayorga and Vernon Forrest in 25th of January kicked off the season big time and now the two are mixing it up again. The expectations are certainly high after the first encounter and there is a chance that we are going to see something exceptional again.

The first fight between these two gladiators was one of the best and also one of the biggest surprises of the year. It was meant to be an event where the new pound-for-pounder, Vernon Forrest, would display his skills that brought him two victories over Shane Mosley against a lesser contender. Mayorga was seen as a colourful opponent but still hardly anyone thought he could rock the then-WBC-titlist. But he did rock Forrest indeed. After outboxing his foe beautifully for over two and a half minutes in the first round Forrest was caught with a punch and he went down. It was ruled as a knockdown though it seemed that Forrest had merely tripped when the fighters’ legs tangled up. That was the turning point of the fight. After that, it was a war. An enraged Forrest came to the second round determined to take his challenger out then and there. This suited Mayorga just fine and he responded in kind. Punches were thrown without letup. Forrest won the second round but even his best punches didn’t seem to have an effect to the granite-chinned man from Nicaragua. The thunder struck in the third round when Mayorga stunningly pounded Forrest to the floor. Forrest got up, but the referee Marty Denkin decided to stop the fight, ruling Mayorga the winner and the new champion.

Before that fight the future had looked very bright for Forrest. He had just signed a worthy six-fight contract with the HBO. He was at the top of many pound-for-pound lists after defeating Mosley convincingly the first time and remaining his title in the rematch. His nice behaviour outside the ring had brought him many fans throughout the boxing world. Now he is in a different situation. He is standing in one waterfront of his career A clear victory here and he will be back at the spotlight. A loss and he probably has to follow Mosley and change the weight division.

Forrest was an Olympic representative in his amateur career and before facing Mosley he had already won the IBF-title. Even so, few boxing experts thought very highly on him. Everybody admitted that he had some skills but not many thought he had looked overly impressive in his career and the casual boxing fans had hardly even seen him fight before. So in a sense Forrest is still quite unknown fighter even though he has been highly ranked, he is relatively new-comer in the big circles. Forrest made his name in the Mosley fights, now he tries to win back that reputation.

The reigning champion Mayorga has also been familiar for the boxing world a rather short time period. After fighting a two-round no-contest against then-WBA-champion Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis back in 2001, Mayorga came back next year to brutally knock him out and win the title. Mayorga’s style was exciting, but Lewis was never known for his chin and so only few thought that he was real championship calibre either. Against Forrest Mayorga proved that he is for real. Fighting, joking and smoking Mayorga became quickly a fan favourite too. Now he defends his crown and his new status. Even if he lost this time he will probably remain some of his fans who want to see action in the ring, but a victory would solidify his place among the best fighters in the world. There is much at stake for both of the fighters.

There is a rule of thumb in boxing that if the first fight is a classic, the rematch is usually a disappointment. That might be the case in here too. This fight is actually a very typical encounter between a boxer and a puncher and it might lead to a uneventful fight. What made it special last time was that the boxer decided not to box and went on to play his opponent’s game. However it is quite unlikely that we would see that again.

Brawling is what the defending champion Mayorga does best. He throws looping, sometimes clumsy-looking but very powerful punches with his both hands. He seems to take an excellent punch and when he has his opponent hurt he shows no mercy. These assets make him a very dangerous fighter at the close quarters. His clearest weaknesses are in his defensive techniques and in movement. Although his chin lets him get away with most of errors in defence, he is still quite easy to hit and thusly his opponent can score points even though he wasn’t hurting him. Mayorga’s game plan is certainly to go right after Forrest and try to get a chance to land his best punches that brought him the victory last time.

Forrest is known as a clever fighter. However, last time he let his emotions control him after the questionable knockdown. Forrest clearly wanted to show that he could mix it up. That decision, while it made for good fight, was from professional sense wrong. Forrest gave Mayorga the best chance he had for winning and Mayorga took it. Forrest probably underestimated his opponent’s skills and thought that he could punch his way out. This time Forrest should have learned his lesson. I expect him to stay behind his jab, use the ring and pop in some right-handers. In the second Mosley fight Forrest showed that he can clinch his man very effectively. That might be a good strategy to nullify Mayorga’s attack.

What seems to be a pretty common misconception about the fight is when the fans say that Mayorga will win if Forrest can’t stay away from him. It is not that simple. In the first fight, though he got stopped, Forrest showed that he can take punches too. They traded tremendous shots trough the second round and before the knockout Forrest received three hard shots to the back of his head that wobbled him before the final right hand chopped him down. So it is not enough for Mayorga to just catch Forrest and land a punch. He has a big job to do to stop his foe who now knows what to expect.

My pick is Forrest by wide unanimous decision victory. I believe he will do what he should have done the first time and prove to be too quick, too skilled and too rangy for the champion. Mayorga is dangerous at all times however and Forrest must be alert throughout the fight, else it might be the champion smoking his winning cigars after the fight once again.

Comments/questions: janneromppainen@hotmail.com

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