Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Forrest prepared to avenge defeat

Welterweight to meet Mayorga in rematch

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

The welterweight championship rematch between Vernon Forrest and Ricardo Mayorga will be July 12 at The Orleans Arena, making it the first major professional boxing event scheduled at the new facility.

Forrest was upset by the hard-punching Nicaraguan on Jan. 25 in Temecula, Calif. Mayorga stopped Forrest in the third round with a big shot to the temple, handing the former U.S. Olympian his first professional loss.

Rich Niederman of The Orleans said the deal is being finalized with Don King Productions, which will promote the fight.

King also is considering adding a 140-pound bout between Zab Judah and DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley to the Forrest-Mayorga undercard.

This will be the third time Forrest has fought an immediate rematch. He upset Shane Mosley on Jan. 26, 2002, then beat him again July 20. Before that, Forrest met Raul Frank on Aug. 26, 2000, and May 12, 2001.

While Mosley was criticized for taking an immediate rematch with Forrest after Forrest dominated their first fight, Forrest said Tuesday there are few parallels.

"People like to compare the two fights, or the two fighters, but Shane got dominated by a more skilled fighter and I got beat (by Mayorga) by a punch," said Forrest, who will be honored by the Boxing Writers Association of America on Saturday in New York as the organization's 2002 Fighter of the Year.

"The only comparison is that (Mosley) lost and he wanted to fight the guy right back, and I lost and I wanted to fight the guy right back. But if you look at the fights carefully, you'll see there really is no comparison. I just got caught because I fought (Mayorga's) fight."

Mayorga scored a disputed first-round knockdown of Forrest, who insisted it was a slip. But because of the knockdown, Forrest came out aggressively in the second round to try to establish his superiority.

Although Forrest easily won the round, the fight was going the way Mayorga wanted it.

"I had proven my point (in the second), and I should have gone back out and stuck to the plan and boxed smart," Forrest said. "If I had done that, it would have been an easy night."