Boxing

 

Fighter of the Year - Vernon Forrest

By Paul Barker

27.08 - It's about time this guy got some respect. Hats off to the World Boxing Hall of Fame for selecting Vernon "The Viper" Forrest as their 2002 Fighter of the Year. Believe me, if I owned a hat, it would be off right now. It's not every day a boxing institution can be commended for enlightenment and good taste!

Exactly why Forrest was chosen for this honor should come as no surprise to anyone. In January of this year he thoroughly vanquished "Sugar" Shane Mosley, one of the most highly regarded pro boxers of recent times. And then, in July, HE DID IT AGAIN!! Mosley shouldn't feel too despondent over this, as Vernon Forrest has defeated everyone he's ever faced as a professional.

His amateur career was nothing to sneeze at, either. His record stands at a lopsided 225 - 16, including a victory over - you guessed it - Shane Mosley. Forrest not only defeated the unrefined Sugar (bad pun intended), he robbed him of a spot on the '92 Olympic team. An omen, perhaps, of things to come…

Vernon Forrest has got it together. On paper, it would appear that he is living a charmed existence. He's like a real-life counterpart of that old WWF star, Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig, only without the arrogance. The nickname "Viper" suits this long, slender, exceptionally lethal boxer to a tee.

As one of eight children, fighting probably came natural to this guy. He got into organized boxing at a very young age, and, as I mentioned, had a fabulous amateur career. But there's more to Forrest than just boxing - at various times in his life, he's been a university student (at Northern Michigan), an aerobics instructor, an actor, and the proud founder of a dynamic, eight-home facility for the mentally challenged called Destiny's Child, Inc.

As proud as Vernon was to represent his country at the '92 Olympics (held in Barcelona, Spain), he was defeated, in turn, by a ghastly case of food poisoning and English fighter Peter Richardson. Dejected, he returned home to Georgia, and within a short time had made a momentous career decision.

He was going to turn professional.

And turn pro he did, with a vengeance, knocking out his first six opponents. The occasional points victory notwithstanding, he continued to dominate for years to come, albeit over fair to middling opposition. However, the few "name" opponents courageous enough to face him were dispatched with almost as much facility, and with varying degrees of brutality. Adrian "The Predator" Stone was tortured for eleven long rounds, Steve Martinez was blown out in two, and Edgar Ruiz was torn to pieces in four.

Some fighters gave better accounts of themselves against The Viper, but were defeated nonetheless. The veteran Vince Phillips, who'd stopped the 1997 incarnations of Kosta Tzu and Micky Ward dead in their tracks, took Forrest the full distance, as did the not-especially-impressive Raul Frank, who was fighting Forrest for the vacant IBF welterweight title.

Since the Mosley fights have already become part of boxing lore, and most everyone has formulated an opinion as to why Mosley was beaten so decisively, I won't subject you to my own skewed and biased analysis. Suffice it to say that the great Sugar Shane Mosley was made to look very ordinary on both occasions, and that Vernon Forrest is now the proud bearer of the WBC welterweight title belt. I don't subscribe to the theory that Forrest was to Mosley what Norton was to Ali (i.e. the possessor of an awkward style that made Mosley look bad), nor do I feel that Mosley was an innocent victim of any grand clutching-and-holding strategy on Vernon's part. I just happen to believe in The Viper's exceptional ring intelligence, long reach, will to win, and powerful, accurate combination punching.

No article about Vernon Forrest is complete without at least a passing nod to his terrific trainer, Ronnie Shields. On this particular occasion, congratulations are in order, for the World Boxing Hall of Fame has smiled on him as sweetly as on his fighter, voting him Trainer of the Year, 2002. Well done, Ronnie boy!

The Viper currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, and is curiously reminiscent of another prominent Atlantan - and a one-time idol of mine - Mr. Hank Aaron. Like Forrest, the great home run king of baseball was neither flashy nor particularly exciting to watch through much of his career; he just quietly went about the business of being SIMPLY THE BEST.

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