Forrest-Mayorga and Judah-Corley Predictions

Photo By Mary Ann Owen
Former IBF junior welterweight champion Zab Judah (left) challenges WBO 140-pound titleholder DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley in the semi-main event of Saturday's Don King-promoted world championship tripleheader at The Orleans in Las Vegas. Judah weighed 140 Friday, Corley 139 1/2. The outstanding seven-bout "Battle Of Orleans" fight card begins at 4:30 p.m.

by Jim "Boxadamus" De Pierro

Zab Judah 28-1-0-1 NC (21 KOs) vs. Demarcus Corley 28-1-1 (16 KOs)

I will be the first to admit I am probably not the most informed opinion to make an accurate prediction on this fight as I have only seen Demarcus "chop-chop" Corley once and that was in his last fight in a very nondescript fight against Randal Bailey. I only caught the later half of the fight but from all accounts that I have heard I didn't miss much. Somewhere in my long, unorganized pile of boxing tapes I have the whole fight recorded but I have never felt the urge to dig it up and watch the whole thing.

So what can I tell you about Corley based on what I have seen. Not much, he is rather ordinary although clearly a class above the limited Randal Bailey as he was clearly the more dominant fighter. His punches seemed a little heavier than average but by no means did he strike me as a devestating puncher. Corley's handspeed is nothing exceptional and that I think is going to spell the difference in this fight. To beat Zab Judah you don't need to be faster than him (nobody with the possible exception of Floyd Mayweather is) but you do need to be fast enough. Kostay Tszyu's handspeed although not exceptionally fast is a little better than average IMO and I think as a result has been overlooked due to the exceptional power that he has in his fists.

I think we as boxing fans like to think that we always want when we are watching fights to see two noble warriors give it their all in the spirit of Mickey Ward and Arturro Gatti. On the flip side their is a darker side, every once in a while you just want to watch a fight between two guys who hate eachothers guts duke it out and this fight fills that appetite. When Bernard Hopkins defended his middleweight title against that running pansy of a Frenchman the best fight of the night probably wasn't even in the boxing ring but in a post fight brawl in which Judah sucker punched Corley. I would think something like that given Judah's previous suspension not so long ago would have or should have earned him another suspension or at the very least a fine. Regardless this whole incident shows that Zab Judah still hasn't grown up. Corley is right when he says that Zab Judah is a boy in a man's body.

I would love nothing more than to see Zab Judah do the funky chicken but I think the more probable outcome of this fight is that Judah will win a comfortable points decision. Corley, I predict, will feel he did enough at the end of the night that he should have been declared the victor. I figure Corley can go the distance with Bailey he must have a pretty good chin. Judah can score KO's because he hits his opponents at ackward angles so its very possible that Judah might stop Corley in the distance but I think Corley can probably take whatever Judah has got. I will cut Corley some slack if he does indeed lose but doesn't admit it. It is pretty hard to be gracious in defeat to a cocky punk who sucker punches you. I think at the end of the day though it will be pretty evident to everyone but Corley and his immediate family that Judah will be the better man (in the ring) at the end of the night.

Zab Judah UD over Demarcus Corley

Vernon Forrest 35-1-0-1 NC (26 KOs) vs. Ricardo Mayorga 25-3-0-2 NC (23 KOs)

I know for a fact that Vernon Forrest is going to win back his WBC welterweight and take the WBA belt in the process. The reason I know this is because I am predicting Forrest to get his head handed to him again by the wild swinging Nicaraguan slugger Ricardo Mayorga. I have absolutely no luck in predicting Vernon Forrest fights. I predicted Mosley to beat Forrest both times and the one time I predict Forrest to wins he goes down to a humiliating 3rd TKO defeat. Even against a very limited Raul Frank I can't predict the fight outcome because the first fight ended in a NC when I thought Forrest would surely emerge victorious. Well OK, Forrest did win the second time around against Frank as I expected he would so in that sense I have about a 20% accuracy rate when it come to predicting the outcome of a Vernon Forrest fight.

I must say I feel like a politician on election day because I am doing a complete 180 from my prediction on the first Forrest-Mayorga fight. I won't try to tell you that Mayorga is the technically more gifted or complete fighter. He is not. I won't even tell you that Mayorga can beat and be competitive with the likes of De La Hoya, Mosley, Vargas, Wright or Tszyu because he would lose to them all but I do think he beats Forrest again for a few reasons. The big difference in this fight as I see it is that Mayorga is just physically stronger than Forrest. The best argument for Forrest is that he is bigger and technically sound so therefore he should be able to dictate the pace from the outside controlling the tempo of the fight with his jab. The problem with that theory as I see it is that Forrest IMO has never really been an outside fighter. With the exception of the first Mosley fight it seems to me Forrest fights tend to have a lot of clinching which means that at some point Mayorga is going to get in close quarters where he is going to get a chance to land one of his wild swinging haymakers. The other reason that I feel Mayorga beats Forrest again is that I think he (Mayorga) has got Forrest beat mentally. Not only do I think Forrest's confidence has been shaken but I think Mayorga is the type of guy that really gets under Forrest's skin.

In Vernon Forrest we have a guy that works with the mentally disabled, never talks trash about his opponents and generally portrays himself as a good role model. In Ricardo Mayorga we have the complete antithesis of Vernon Forrest. Here is a guy that openly smokes cigarettes and drinks beer and makes no apologies for it. Also add into the fact that Mayorga is anything but humble in victory I have to think that someone like Ricardo Mayorga would be the last person that Vernon Forrest would ever want to lose to. Mayorga proudly predicts that he will be able to beat Forrest in two rounds. I don't know if Mayorga beats Forrest in two rounds but I think he will stop Forrest at some point in the first five rounds. I have a bad feeling that this jerk Mayorga might actually get his wish and stop Forrest in the second round. Mayorga talks so much trash that its hard to take him seriously sometimes but so far he was able to back up his words against Andrew "6-heads" Lewis. Mayorga is right when he says that he never landed a clean shot against Forrest and I have to wonder how Forrest would be able to stand up to a flush Mayorga powershot. Vernon Forrest is no china chinned wussy as he was able to take Shane Mosley's best shot and still stay on his feet. Mosley may not be the hardest hitting welterweight of all time but Mosley is clearly an above average puncher. Mayorga, I am convinced is one of the best punchers in all of boxing today.

Forrest will probably try to make this more of a boxing match but I think Mayorga is going to quickly drag this fight down to his level again much like he did the first fight. I hope I am wrong but I have a bad feeling that Forrest may end up a broken fighter as a result of this fight.

Ricardo Mayorga KO 2 over Vernon Forrest

Agree? Disagree? Think I'm full of it? E-mail me at boxadamus@surfglobal.net or post a comment and tell me what you think.