The Mayorga-Forrest rematch

By Clinton Mollett

08.07 - Former WBC Welterweight king Vernon 'The Viper' Forrest reminds me more and more of the legendary Tommy 'The Hitman' Hearns all the time in which he is tall and lanky for a 147 pounder, has a sniper of a jab and a booming right hand just like 'The Hitman'.

The 32 year old Forrest even loses like Hearns making a ring brain mistake in his last encounter with 'El Matador' who by the way was anything but a Matador in that fight walking into just about everything Forrest threw at him in order to tee off himself. Instead of using his superior height and reach advantage Forrest decided to do the same thing as Mayorga and exchange blow for blow, but just like Hearns' decision to try and put Marvin Hagler away early cost him a third round TKO loss, so did it Vernon Forrest.

Now the cigarette smoking, beer drinking, 2-Time World Champion Ricardo Mayorga must be riding the clouds right now winning two world titles back to back and in doing so defeating the ever dangerous 'Six Heads' Lewis by fifth round stoppage and pound for pounder Vernon Forrest by third round stoppage. Vernon Forrest whipped another pound for pounder Shane Mosley twice who in turn beat 'Golden Boy' Oscar DeLa Hoya, so Ricardo can not be blamed if he is feeling on top of the world.

But come July 12th Mayorga (24-1-1-3) will have the opportunity to prove his victory over Vernon Forrest was no fluke but the conclusion of a well thought out fight plan to lure the technically superior ring technician into a toe to toe brawl. If he can repeat the coup de grace that he did on Forrest (35-1) then he can consider himself up there with DeLa Hoya, Mosley, Barrera, Mayweather and alike. If he can't then he will just be considered a big banger who got lucky and will be one to avoid in the future. If Forrest manages to avenge his lone loss to Mayorga then he will redeem himself and the third round TKO loss will be erased as a lesson learnt the hard way.

I suspect Forrest will be getting it drummed into his head by trainer Ronnie Shields by now to box Mayorga instead of brawling with him and to "make this a boring fight" as I recall Ronnie Shields instructions to Vernon Forrest between rounds during the Mosley rematch. But I can't help wonder if Forrest has learnt his lesson or not from the encounter with Mayorga by letting his emotions over rule reasoning, when he got dropped in the first round logic dictates that he should have kept his distance after that and Mayorga at the end of his jab but Forrest got all emotional after that knockdown and ignoring his corners advice he went out there and tried to out brawl the brawler...big mistake.

29 year old Ricardo Mayorga is now so confident he is going to win again he is willing to do a $100,000 dollar wager with anyone who doubts he can't knock Forrest out in two rounds, one round less than in their first fight. The Vegas bookies have it 3-1 in favor of Forrest winning and I second those odds. So if anyone has a spare $100,000 dollars laying around somewhere and are adamant he won't be able to finish Forrest in two rounds I suggest you get the word out to Mayorga that you will take him up on his bet. I'm not a gambling man myself and I don't have a spare $100,000 dollars laying around somewhere but if I was and if I did I'd be happy to double my money.

If Forrest wins by a wide unanimous decision and doesn't get to much trouble from Mayorga then I think he'll move on to other opponents like IBF Champion Cory Spinks or WBO Champion Antonio Margarito if he still wants to fulfill his dream of unifying the welterweight division. If Forrest struggles to beat Mayorga or he has to pick himself off the canvas once or twice on his way to winning then this could set up a second rematch to settle who is the better fighter once and for all.

Prediction - Vernon Forrest WTKO11