Forrest-Mora: Look For Sergio To Pull Off An Upset

By Boxing News - 06/06/2008 - Comments

forrest2232442421.jpgBy Sean McDaniel: With one day remaining until fight time, WBC light middleweight champion Vernon Forrest (40-2, 29 KOs) doesn’t appear lacking in confidence in regards to his bout with former star from The Contender Sergio Mora (20-0-1, 5 KOs), both of whom meet in a 12-round title bout at the Mohegan Sun Casino, in Uncasville, Connecticut. 10 years in age separates the two fighters and a huge gulf in boxing experience as well. At 37, a time when most fighters are showing signs of slowing down, Forrest still appears to be at the top of his game looking and fighting years younger than his age.

For all his age, he’s been a little hard on his younger opponent, saying repeatedly in the past week that Mora has no chance at winning, that “there won’t be an upset on Saturday.” Unlike many of Forrest’s other bouts, he’s been unusually boisterous saying uncomplimentary things about the lack of power or Mora and his fighting style, which is more finesse oriented in comparison to Forrest’s. In a way, though, despite winning the war of words almost by default, Forrest has come across slightly like he’s afraid of Mora somehow.

Normally, when a person has as strong a reaction to another person, there has to be a hidden reason such as them being afraid of them or what they represent. Forrest may not like that some people are giving Mora, a fighter who has accomplished much less than him at this stage, a chance in this fight. This I imagine has set Forrest off to no end, but it remains odd that he would be upset by such a trifle thing as this.

I mean, Mora has proven himself against a handful of excellent fighters like Peter Manfredo Jr., Ishe Smith, Najai Turpin, Jesse Brinkley and Archak TerMeliksetian. Those are all quality opponents and Mora has proved himself to deserve to get a title shot, where Forrest can accept this or not. While Mora may not be listed in the top 10 in the WBC, since up to now he’s fought entirely as a middleweight, but that doesn’t take away the fact that Mora is a top fighter. He’s clearly better than any of the top light middleweights in the WBC, like Sergio Martinez, Joel Lulio, Ricardo Mayorga and Oscar De La Hoya. Mora may have had some problems in his one blemish on his record, a 10-round draw against Elvin Ayala in October 2007, but that was more a case of Mora not being ready for the unorthodox style of Ayala, which is somewhat similar to Naseem Hamed’s style of fighting and is very unpredictable.

Mora rebounded from that fight, and turned around and easily stopped Rito Rulvacaba in the 6th round in January. Mora doesn’t have much in the way of power, he’d be the first to admit that, but his boxing ability is first class to say the least. He does everything well – jabs often, throws hard uppercuts and hooks. His only flaw, as far as I can tell, is his lack of power. He’s not easy to hit and covers up well when attacked. This may be the key to victory for him, as Forrest has problems with fighters with a good defense.

As for Forrest, he’s done well since coming back from shoulder surgery in 2004, which kept him out of action until July 2005, when he returned with an excellent victory over the tough Sergio Martinez. Since then, Forrest has piled up four consecutive victories over the likes of Carlos Baldomir, Ike Quartey and Michele Piccirillo. Forrest has looked good against all of them, yet none of them are in the class of Mora I have to say. Forrest has been lucky, in that each of these fighters are more stationary, allowing him to use his jab and reach, not having to worry about things like movement or angles. This is going to be a problem for Forrest, since Mora tends to constantly move and is always showing different angles against his opponents.

Look for Forrest to suddenly get old on Saturday night. Mora is going to use a lot of movement, his powerful jabs and hooks to give Forrest all kinds of problems. By the 7th round, Forrest’s face will begin to swell up badly, and he’ll fade dramatically and allow Mora to take charge of the fight. I don’t see Mora being able to stop Forrest, but I see him winning by a comfortable decision.



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