Forrest Defeats Piccirillo

Former welterweight champion and now World Boxing Council light middleweight champion Vernon Forrest (40-2, 29 KOs) KO’d a badly overmatched Michele Piccirillo (48-4, 30 KOs) on Saturday night at the Foxwoods Casino, in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The bout was as one-sided as it could be, as Vernon Forrest, now 36, easily controlled the action from the start, eventually stopping Piccirillo, 37, in the 11th round. The fight should have been stopped sooner, however, because Piccirillo had nothing from the first round and began to take serious punishment as the fight progressed. Piccirillo was knocked down in the 6th, 9th and 11th rounds, courtesy of big right hands from Forrest.

Going into the bout, Piccirillo was thought to be a fighter that could give Forrest trouble. However, seconds into the bout, it was clear that Forrest would have little trouble with him, tagging him with powerful left hooks, straight rights and massive uppercuts. Piccirillo, for his part, mostly stayed on the outside trying to take a s few shots as possible. In the 9th round, Forrest knocked Piccirillo down with a perfect right hand. Incredibly, Piccirillo got up from the knockdown and continued to try and fight, though mostly he as just taking shots. In the 11th round, Forrest finished Piccirillo off with two monstrous right hands, sending him down to the canvas. In the process of falling down, Piccirillo would injure his right ankle.