Forrest vs. Piccirillo On Saturday

World Boxing Council light middleweight champion Vernon Forrest (39-2, 28 KOs) goes up against challenger Michele Piccirillo (48-3, 30 KOs) on Saturday night at the Foxwoods Casino, in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Forrest, 36, defeated Carlos Baldomir in a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision in July to win the vacant WBC light middleweight title. However, as easy as it was for Forrest, he was marked up by Baldomir and looked exhausted in the last couple of rounds.

Forrest, a previous welterweight champion from 2002 to 2003, realizes it won’t be easy beating the 37 year-old Piccirillo, who punches hard and generally puts a lot of pressure on his opponents. “This is a very tough fight and a very tough fighter,” Forrest said. “He fights similar to how I fight. I’m looking forward to putting on a spectacular performance. I’ll be prepared for whatever he brings.”

In 2005, Piccirillo was defeated by Ricardo Mayorga by 12-round unanimous decision for the vacant World Boxing Council light middleweight title. At the time, many boxing experts predicted that Piccirillo would defeat Mayorga. Unfortunately, however, Picirillo had problems with Mayorga’s unorthodox offensive style and wasn’t able to adjust to it during the bout and lost virtually every round of the fight. It was thought then that Piccirillo would pick up the pieces from the defeat and soon challenge for another title or, perhaps, fight a rematch with Mayorga. Instead, though, Piccirillo has fought exclusively against lower level European fighters.

In 2002, Forrest came out of nowhere to twice defeat Shane Mosley, then considered the top welterweight in the division. However, Forrest’s time at the top was soon over, as he was subsequently beaten twice by Mayorga in 2003. Following the two bitter defeats, Forrest would take two years off dealing with a series of injuries that crippled his career. By the time that Forrest returned in 2005, he was written by most boxing experts for the most part, and thought that he was now too old to challenge for a title.

However, within two years, following a string of wins over the likes of Sergio Mora, Elco Garcia and Ike Quartey, Forrest was ready to take on Baldomir of the vacant WBC light middleweight title. Against Baldomir, Forrest looked like he’d lost nothing as he pounded away on him with powerful left hooks and excellent combinations. As good as Forrest looked against Baldomir, an argument can be made that Forrest may perhaps be the best fighter in the light middleweight division. Though, Roman Karmazin and Cory Spinks might have something to say about that.