number1contender.net

Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

June 7, 2008

Mohegan Sun Casino-Uncasville, Connecticut

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

Vernon Forrest (40-2, 29 KO's, 1 NC, 153.75 pounds) (c) vs. Sergio Mora (20-0-1, 5 KO's, 154 pounds)

Forrest won this title when it was vacant by defeating Carlos Baldomir via 12-round unanimous decision on July 28, 2007 at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. The title was previously held by Mayweather, who vacated the title to retire for the first time and return to 147 pounds. Forrest is making his second defense of this title.

The champion had a stellar amateur career that was capped when he competed for the United States in boxing at 140 pounds at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympiad.

Forrest's last match was a mandatory title defense against Michele Piccirillo on December 1, 2007 at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Piccirillo was dominated in the match before being stopped in an ugly technical knockout at 2:21 of round 11. However, the most memorable thing from that match was that on the final knockdown, Piccirillo's leg buckled, similar to the way Mirko Cro Cop's leg buckled when he was knocked out by Gabriel Gonzaga. Piccirillo's left leg ended up broken in the same gruesome fashion. To make matters worse, Piccirillo spoke no English, and was unable to explain to the doctor what had happened. That left theofficials attending Piccirillo clueless about the leg injury for the first few minutes they were trying to help the fallen boxer.

Forrest is The Ring's number 1 contender to its vacant championship at 154 pounds.

Mora came to fame by winning the First season of "The Contender" reality series. That season aired on NBC, and saw Mora take the tournament via unanimous decision in a 7-round match against Peter Manfredo, Jr. on My 24, 2005 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. That season's tournament was conducted at 160 pounds. However, coming off an approximately 2 week layoff, Mora weighed in at the lightest weight of his career for a 5-round split decision victory over Ishe Smith on September 21, 2004, 152.5 pounds.

Besides for the match with Smith, Mora has never officially weighed-in for a match under 154 pounds, but has boxed almost the entirety of his career at 160 pounds. Mora said before the match that should he win the title tonight, he intends to immediately vacate the belt and return to 160 pounds.

The East Los Angeles native was offered a payoff in excess of $1 million to face the then Ring Champion at 160 pounds Jermain Taylor on May 19, 2007 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. However, Mora pulled out of the match, because Memphis gave Taylor, an Arkansas native, a clear hometown advantage. Mora looked to face Kassim Ouma instead in a match scheduled for September 15, 2007. However, that match was canceled, and after a nearly 14-month long layoff, Mora went to a 10-round draw against a supposedly over-matched Elvin Ayala on October 16, 2007 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Mora's last match was a technical knockout victory at 1:22 of round 6 over Rito Ruvalcaba on January 11, 2008 at the Morongo Resort and Spa in Cabazon, California. The Contender winner came in with an added advantage, by missing weight for he match scheduled at 160 pounds by nearly 2 pounds, over the soft opposition in Ruvalcaba, who made weight. This recent string of matches has earned Mora a reputation for ducking good opposition and top competitors.

Mora is unranked by The Ring, and the number 20 ranked boxer at 160 pounds by boxrec.com

The 28-year-old Mora is 9 years younger then the 37-year-old Forrest. Mora has a slight height advantage standing 5' 11" tall, while Forrest stands 5' 10.5" tall. The challenger has a small reach advantage with a 73" wingspan, compared to a 72" wingspan for the champion. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, Mora is probably the heavier boxer at the start of the match. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. Forrest is approximately a 5-to-1 favorite.

The judges keeping official score of this match ringside are from Thailand, New York, and Texas. The referee is Richard Flaherty.

Forrest lands a few power punches to win an uneventful round 1, 10-9. The crowd is already starting to boo the lack of action in this match. It is a bit premature, but a few more rounds of that pace will deserve far worse. Mora is relatively more active in round 2, and that is good enough to barely take the round, 10-9. Forrest is landing the much harder and cleaner punches when he punches. However, Forrest is not punching that much. That is odd, considering Forrest has a great ability to take a punch, and Mora has almost no power. Therefore, a more wide open style match should be a huge advantage to Forrest. Additionally, Mora is coming into the match off such a long layoff, because of torn ligaments in his right thumb. That should further decrease the challenger's punching power. Forrest wins a largely boring round 3, 10-9. There were some good exchanges in the round. However, there were multiple periods of nearly 30 seconds in the round where the boxers circled each other without throwing a punch. Round 4 is Mora's best of the match, and he wins it big, 10-9. After 4 rounds, the match is even on my scorecard, 38-38. After 4 rounds, the media members keeping unofficial score of the match at ringside for Showtime have the match scored unanimously for Forrest: 39-37, 39-37, 39-37. They all gave round 2 to Forrest, where I gave it to Mora on my scorecard.

Forrest has a strong first half of round 5, which should be good enough to win round 5, 10-9. Mora wins round 6, 10-9. The match was contested primarily on the inside in round 6, and Forrest was unable to land the good hooks to the body and right uppercuts he was landing in the early rounds in those situations. In the corner after round 6, Forrest tells his trainer, Buddy McGirt, that he is winded. That is a terrible place to be with 6 rounds still to go. My scorecard after 6 rounds has the match still a draw, 57-57. All of the media members keeping unofficial score for HBO have Forrest winning after 6 rounds: 58-56, 58-56, 58-56.

Mora is busier and easily wins round 7, 10-9. With around 1 minute to go in round 7, Mora received his final warning for hitting Forrest behind the head. The next infraction will cost him a point. However, Forrest is turning his head creating many of the fouls. Forrest wins a close round 8, 10-9. The champion was in control for the first half of the round, then stopped punching for the rest of the round. Whenever Forrest punches he dominates the match. Whenever Forrest does nothing he loses. Forrest's activity or lack thereof is dominating this match, not Mora's speed or work on the inside. After 8 rounds, the match is still a draw on my scorecard, 76-76. The media scoring the match for Showtime have the match after 8 rounds has Forrest ahead: 77-75, 77-75, 77-75.

Action filled last minute of round 9, that Mora got the best of to take the round, 10-9. Forrest looks exhausted in his corner after round 9. Mora dominates round 10, and wins it decisively, 10-9. At this point Forrest is starting to look very old in the ring. Mora is bouncing around, about to enter the first round 11 of his career. In contrast, Forrest looks like he may have stuck around 1 match too long. It may not be Forrest's age that have sapped his strength and endurance for this match, but this is a different boxer then stepped in the ring in 2007. After 10 rounds, my scorecard has Mora ahead, 96-94. Press row scoring has the match a majority draw: 95-95, 96-94 (Forrest), 95-95.

At the end of round 11, Forrest is beginning to bleed from his lower lip. Round 11 is won by Mora's higher workrate, 10-9. At this point, Mora may have more power in his punches then the tired champion. Press row scoring after 11 rounds has Mora winning the match by split decision: 105-104, 104-105, 105-104. After 11 rounds, Mora leads on my scorecard 106-103. Coming out for round 12, Forrest looks a boxer who has already been beaten. Round 12 is dominated by Mora, who even has time to play to the crowd while handling Forrest. Mora wins round 12, 10-9, and the match on my scorecard, 116-112.

The official decision from the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match a majority decision: 114-114, 115-113, 116-112, in favor of the winner, and new WBC Super Welterweight Champion of the World, Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora. The win moves Mora to 20-0-1 with 5 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Mora said in is post match interview that he can do a lot better then he did in this match. Then Mora called out De La Hoya.

Forrest said in his post match interview that he could not get into his rhythm for this match, but did not overlook Mora in this match. The former champion said he is not retiring.

Mora looked very good in the last half of this match. However, it is still unclear how good he really is. This may have been a case of Forrest getting old, or having an awful night, more then being about anything Mora did. However, having the title and big name win vaults his marketability. The 154-pound division is bereft of big name opponents, save De La Hoya, and it is not a guarantee Mora will get a match with him (more on that down below). However, if Mora returns to 160 pounds as he said he would do before the match, he would be in the immediate running for a title shot at Kelly Pavlik. If Mora was offered seven figures to face Jermain Taylor, he is assuredly worth more to face Pavlik now that he has won a title belt.

Forrest looked bad in this match. He appeared to age 10 years in this match. The belt now around Mora's waist is the only one that has been defended on a high profile American show in a long time. Some of the top 154-pound boxers have been relegated to internet PPV's on Don King's website. Forrest does not appear in line for a rematch soon, and may at best be able to main event ESPN shows for a few more years. If he can afford it, retirement may be the best option for him.

This show was generally average. Portions of this match were good. However, there was a lot of filler in this show, and there were large portions of inactivity in this match. It is a pretty easy skip, if there is something better on at the time.