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HBO Boxing After Dark Recap

July 28, 2007

Emerald Queen Casino-Tacoma, Washington

WBC Super Welterweight (154 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Vernon Forrest (38-2, 1 NC, 28 KO's, 154 pounds) vs. Carlos Baldomir (43-10-6, 13 KO's, 154 pounds)

This is the championship Floyd Mayweather, Jr. won in his match with Oscar de la Hoya, on May 5, 2007, and has recently vacated to return to 147 pounds when hecomes out of retirement, in a few months. Boxrec.com, now has a Mayweather match with Ricky Hatton listed as happening on December 8, 2007, somewhere in the United States. There has still been no official announcement of that match.

Forrest, an Atlanta, Georgia native, began his boxing training at 9-years-old. After receiving a scholarship to Northern Michigan University, it was necessary that he forgo his senior year to compete for the United States in boxing at 140 pounds in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. After defeating Shane Mosley to qualify for the Olympics, Forrest was the favorite, but a case of food poisoning before his first round match lead to an early exit from the competition.

The Olympian turned pro in November 1992, and went on a 35 match winning streak that lasted over 10 years. In 2002, Forrest once again defeated, the then undefeated as a pro and considered pound-for-pound best, Mosley, twice by unanimous decision to win his second world championship (WBC 147). Those victories earned him 2002 fighter of the year honors from: Ring Magazine, ESPN Friday Night Fights, the World Boxing Hall of Fame, USA Today, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.

However, 2003 was his worst as a pro. He suffered the only 2 losses of his professional career on the heels of the Mosley victories, both to Ricardo Mayorga. The first was by round 3 TKO, and the second by majority decision.

Forrest's last match was a controversial unanimous decision victory over Ike Quartey, on August 5, 2006. The long layoff, before this match is due to Forrest needing to heal his body which has undergone 3 surgeries in the last 4 years, 2 on his left shoulder and 1 one on his left elbow. His left shoulder was originally injured in 1994, but lacking the money to take the time off for the necessary surgery, Forrest took a series of cortisone shots in the shoulder for years. This allowed the shoulder to get much worse, and though he says it is fine now, it could becomea problem again at any time.

Forrest is ranked as the number 6 contender to the vacant Ring Magazine Championship at 154 pounds. He will be the bigger boxer in this match, having boxed his last 3 outings at this weight class.

Forrest is looking to box his way to victory in this match and avoid engaging in any slugging contests. Emanuel Steward believes that if, Forrest's shoulders do not become re-injured during the match he should be able to box his way to victory.

Baldomir is a native of Santa Fe, Argentina, but now resides in Los Angeles, California. He is moving up from 147 after some very impressive wins at the lower weight class. For a boxer who possesses no power in his punching, with only 13 knockouts in professional 59 matches, the move up in weight is curious. At 147 pounds he defeated then WBC, WBA, and IBF Champion at 147 pounds Zab Judah by unanimous decision on January 1, 2006 in Madison Square Garden. However, his camp only paid the sanctioning fees to the WBC, because that was the organization that made Baldomir the mandatory challenger. The group promoting Baldomir, created in 2004, felt that going after the other 2 titles would be disloyal to the WBC. Therefore, that was the only belt Baldomir took home that night. In his next match, he unified his WBC titlewith the IBA Championship at 147 by stopping a very old Arturo Gatti in 9 rounds.

The Argentine's last match on November 4, 2006, was a loss to the pound-for-pound best, Mayweather. (Part of the reason this is a title match and not an eliminator, as was originally scheduled, was because Mayweather wanted to pay Baldomir back for giving him the shot at Baldomir's two championships in that match.) Mayweather won every round on 2 scorecards, and 10 of the 12 rounds on the other scorecard. The speed and movement of Mayweather had Baldomir frustrated the entire night. Baldomir's previous loss at 147, before Mayweather was on December 11, 1998, in Buenos Aires, Argentina via 8 round unanimous decision. Baldomir's opponent had a record of 70-9-1, going into the contest. Baldomir received $1.6 million for his match with Mayweather and after that match ballooned up to over 200 pounds, which is what has apparently necessitated the change in weight classes. There are serious questions about whether or not Baldomir has the gas tank to go 12 rounds after giving birth to those 3 Thanksgiving turkeys. He reportedly had a very difficult time making the 154 pound limit. Upon visual inspection, Baldomir appears a little soft.

Baldomir is currently the number 5 ranked contender to Mayweather's Ring Magazine Championship at 147 pounds.

Baldomir is going to be looking to come forward and force the action in the match. Baldomir is a very accurate puncher and will keep applying pressure if he can find his target in front of him. The smaller boxer has a great chin, and does not fear a brawl. He has only been knocked out once and that was in 1994.

Both boxers are 36-years-old. Forrest holds a gigantic 5" height advantage for this weight class, standing 6' tall to Baldomir's 5' 7" tall. Both have an arm length of 23.5" long measured from the armpit to the end of the fist. At the time of the match, Forrest will weigh 160 pounds and Baldomir will weigh 162 pounds. They both box out of the orthodox stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match. The referee is the outstanding Michael Ortega. The judges are from Puerto Rico, Thailand, and the United States. Keeping unofficial score for HBO will be Harold Lederman.

Round 1 is close, but Forrest wins it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. With 1:21 to go in round 2, there is a some swelling beginning to show under the right eye of Forrest. Round 2 is tough to score again, but Forrest probably wins it, 10-9. Lederman scores round 2 the same. Forrest wins round 3, 10-9. Forrest is not boxing, but slugging and the fast pace of this match is making this an entertaining match, so far. Lederman scores round 3 for Forrest, 10-9. We both have Forrest ahead after 3 rounds, 30-27. Forrest is already starting to hold his lead left hand very low early in the match, which could be a problem, because Baldomir is showing a lot more hand speed then was expected. Baldomir is also, working a much faster pace then was expected for a boxer who dropped so much weight. It is unlikely he will be able to keep that pace up throughout the match or even very much longer.

With 47 seconds to go in round 4, there is an unintentional clash of heads that really bothered Baldomir. There was no blood drawn and the referee stopped the action to check, because Baldomir turned and walked away from Forrest. After what had been a tremendous action round of huge power punches and neither boxer backing down, Baldomir had to be cajoled to restart by the referee with 28 seconds to go in the round still touching his head and blinking to stall for more time to recover. With less then 5 seconds to go in the round, Forrest hit Baldomir with a left hand to the head and Baldomir momentarily stopped boxing. Baldomir recovered enough to hold on to finish the round, while yelling something to the referee about an infraction, but the punch was clean. Baldomir thought the bell rang to end the round, and the punch came after the bell. In fact, the punch came slightly after the banging to signify 5 seconds left in the round (it is a 5 second banging in Washington instead of 10 seconds, like everywhere else, to better allow the referee to move into position to stop the action at the bell). Forrest wins round 4 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. On replay, it is clear although a very good punch, the Forrest punch with 5 seconds left did not hurt Baldomir. It only made him angry and had Baldomir gesturing to the referee, instead of boxing. Forrest leads on Lederman and my scorecard after 4 rounds, 40-36.

Forrest wins round 5, 10-9. Baldomir has taken a lot of hard punches in this match and never been truly hurt. A boxer with a lesser ability to take a punch might be asleep by now. Lederman scores round 5 for Forrest, 10-9. Forrest wins round 6, 10-9. In round 6, Forrest was warned for hitting low and after that threw several more borderline low blows that had Baldomir complaining. Lederman scored round 6 for Forrest, 10-9, and on both of our scorecards Forrest leads after 6 rounds, 60-54.

Forrest wins round 7 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Forrest wins round 8 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. At one point in round 8, Baldomir stood in the center of the ring and dropped both hands down completely at his sides in utter frustration. Forrest is dominating this match with better speed and power. Baldomir is unable to find Forrest with his punches and it is getting to the Argentine. With 1:25 to go in round 9, Baldomir is hit low by a Forrest left hand. Time is called and Forrest is rightfully deducted a point. Baldomir has 5 minutes to recover. The low blow came after Forrest had been hurt by a Baldomir right hand, making the foul seem somewhat intentional. Baldomir uses less then 1 minute of his time to recover and the action is resumed, but Forrest has had a chance to recover from the punch that hurt him. Round 9 is Baldomir's best of the match so far. Forrest outlanded Baldomir in the round 31-to-11, but with the very solid connect from Baldomir that caused the potentially intentional foul it is tempting to score the round for Baldomir. Round 9 is probably even, 9-9. On replay, it shows that Baldomir was pulling Forrest's head down when the foul was delivered, which helped guide the punch low. Also, the blow landed on the upper left side part of the man region, to not be too damaging, and Baldomir embellished the situation to get the point deduction. It now appears to have not been an intentional foul. Lederman scored round 9 for Baldomir, 10-8. Forrest leads after 9 rounds on both our scorecards. Lederman has Forrest ahead, 88-82. My scorecard has Forrest leading, 89-81.

Forrest wins round 10, 10-9. The HBO clock that keeps track of the time left in the round, broke with 24 seconds left in round 10. The clock came back with a little more then 2 minutes left in round 11. Forrest wins round 11, 10-9. After round 11, Baldomir is told in his corner he is only down 1 or 2 points. Baldomir is down 10 points at this point on my scorecard, and it would be hard to have him closer then 4 points on any scorecard. Lederman awarded rounds 10 and 11 to Forrest, 10-9, and has Forrest up by 8 points. Forrest wins round 12 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Forrest wins on both of our scorecards. Lederman had Forrest winning, 118-109. My scorecard had Forrest winning, 119-108.

The official decision read by Michael Buffer is that the judges have scored the match: 118-109, 118-109, 116-111, all for the winner by unanimous decision and now WBC Super Welterweight Champion of the World, Vernon "The Viper" Forrest. The win moves Forrest to 39-2 with 1 no contest and 28 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

The final CompuBox numbers have Forrest landing 286 of the 663 total punches he threw, good for a 43% connect percentage. Forrest landed 107 of the 342 jabs he threw, good for a 31% connect percentage. Baldomir landed 157 of the 669 total punches he threw, for a 23% connect percentage. Baldomir landed 42 of the 154 jabs he threw, for a 27% connect percentage.

In his post-match interview Forrest said he boxes up or down to the level of his competition and Baldomir pushed him in this match to a great performance. Forrest said he does not want to think about future opponents right now. He was in training camp for 5 months in preparation for this match and now wants to go home and rest. To illustrate his point he has Larry Merchant look at his face and all the swelling on it from this outing.

Through a translator, Baldomir says in his post match interview, that he is going to think about whether he wants to continue boxing. Right now, he thinks this is his last match and he does not want to keep boxing.

Forrest, because of all the time he has been forced to take off to heal injuries to his left arm is a very young 36-year-old, and could be a factor at the 154 pound division for the next few years. His pace never slowed throughout the match. He had very good hand speed and is very large for 154 pounds. He has an excellent resume and should be able to get some top quality matches in the weight class.

Baldomir looked very good in defeat. His energy lasted the entire match, but he is too small for this weight class. If Baldomir were to continue boxing, he would probably need to surround himself with a better team to get the most out of what remains of his in ring career. He needs a team around him that can keep him dedicated to staying in shape for the sport, even when not actively preparing for a match. His management team showed its inexperience with the obvious terrible career decision to not go after all 3 of Judah's title belts. Baldomir showed the skills necessary to still be a competitive against the right quality opponents. However, his managementis not positioning him to succeed, but leading him to retire. It is unfortunate to see a boxer not get the most out of their career, because the people around them are holding them back. It is however, a story far too common in boxing.

This portion of the show is an enjoyable one sided match to watch with good action. It is worth catching if stumbled upon.