By Rick Reeno
After hearing about Oscar De La Hoya's recent decision to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a September rematch, WBC junior middleweight champion Vernon Forrest (40-2, 29KOs) expressed his outrage to BoxingScene.com. Forrest feels the boxing public received a terrible fight the first time around and the rematch will be no different.
"I think it's more of that bullsh*t that Floyd and De La Hoya will fight again. Who would want to see that fight again anyway? They owe the public a refund form the first fight. It was garbage. If the first fight was garbage, then you know the second fight is going to garbage," Forrest said.
Before he meets Mayweather in September, De La Hoya is looking to stage a tuneup bout on May 3. Forrest says De La Hoya should step up to the plate and fight him in May, with the winner going up against Mayweather in September.
"I'm the WBC champion at 154 and he's the mandatory. I got the belt that Floyd took from him and he could always try take that belt back. I wish that f*ggot ass would step up and take a real challenge," Forrest said.
Ricardo Mayorga (29-6, 23KOs), who last November scored a decision over Fernando Vargas at a catch-weight of 166-pounds, has been talking about a return to junior-middleweight for a trilogy fight with Forrest. Forrest is salivating at the chance to avenge the only defeats of his career, both to Mayorga, by meeting him for the third time. But, he says Mayorga is just "talking" because nobody has approached his people to make the third fight.
"I've heard nothing from them. Nobody has contacted us. Everyone knows that's the fight that I want. The next time I get in the ring with him I'm going to break his f*cking neck. Like I said, I don't just want to win - I want to take his life," Forrest said.
One fighter who is willing to step up and challenge Forrest is Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez (41-1, 22KOs). Martinez's lone defeat came at the hands of Antonio Margarito back in 2000. He returns against Eduardo Sanchez on the Feb. 16 undercard to Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor in Las Vegas.
Martinez's agent, Sampson Lewkowicz, said if Forrest does not take a fight by March, then Martinez, according to the WBC rankings and regulations, Martinez becomes the mandatory opponent in line to fight him for the WBC title.
"If he has such a big mouth, why doesn't he comply with his obligation by fighting his mandatory. If he watches Martinez fight on the undercard of Pavlik-Taylor, he will really run away. He has a big mouth and makes nasty comments about other fighters. He doesn't deserve nothing less than Sergio Martinez knocking him on his ass," Lewkowicz said.
Forrest is willing to give Martinez a crack at the title, but only when the Argentinean fighter is able to make a name for himself.
"When Martinez gets a name that someone other than his mother and father can recognize - we can make a fight," Forrest said. "I want him to be the mandatory fighter in the world, not the mandatory fighter on his block. When more people than his family and friends on his block know his name, we can fight. I'm not in the fight game, I'm in the fight business."
