By Rick Reeno
We have a rematch of junior middleweights taking place on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora (21-0-1, 5 KOs) makes the first defense of his title against former two-division champion Vernon “The Viper” Forrest (40-3, 29 KOs). The fight takes place on the Casamayor vs. Marquez HBO pay-per-view. Back in June, Mora dropped down in weight from 160 to 154, and was able to outhustle Forrest to win his first major title by decision. Vernon would tell BoxingScene.com a few days later that he struggled to make weight for their fight, resulting in exhuastion during the contest. There can be no excuses on Saturday.
The staff of BoxingScene.com comes together to voice their opinions, strategies and predictions for the big fight.
Robert Morales - Vernon Forrest will win a decision over Sergio Mora. Their first fight was close, but Forrest figures to be better prepared this time and he will win a decision.
Cliff Rold - It’s hard to imagine Forrest performing worse than he did the first time and yet, at the end, he still was justifiably within a round or two of retaining his belt on the cards. If he fights better this time, then it falls to Mora to keep up. Can Mora perform at a higher level? One old Boxing cliché is that a title makes a fighter better, but nothing Mora’s ever done suggests another level beyond what he displayed in June. Forrest is fighting for his career this weekend; it will make him dangerous…but his age looms so large it’s tough to pick him. Look for Forrest to gas again in the second half on the way to another narrow Mora decision win.
Jake Donovan - No prediction. Too close to call, and to be honest, not a rematch in which I'm particularly interested.
TK Stewart - I was one of the Showtime press row judges for their first fight back in June. After the first round I turned to the guy beside me and told him "Forrest has this thing won." Well, he would have, except he lost six of the last seven rounds on my card. I said Forrest "got old overnight" in my post-fight commentary and from what I saw in that fight it did seem to be the case. However, Forrest has emphatically denied to me that viewpoint and says he was over-trained. I don't know the truth, but all he has to do is be a little bit better and he makes it a much closer fight. Mora will be better this time too. Whenever a guy wins a title he just gets better and Mora has already told me he is more confident and he feels as though he has improved, but I don't know if it will be enough to win. Their first fight was painful to watch (boring) and this one will be no different. I know this sounds like a cop-out, but I think it ends in a draw. Seriously. There isn't much to choose from between these two guys and the ancient/myopic judges they employ in Vegas won't be able to come to any sort of meaningful conclusion.
CompuBox/Bob Canobbio - Serguio Mora should win by unanimous decision.
James Blears - Always unpredictable, Vernon Forrest will come to this rematch with his A-game to stop Sergio Mora, who won't be able to repeat his first time triumph. The KO could well happen around the fifth or the sixth.
Brent Matteo Alderson - I think Vernon took Mora lightly and didn't realize how tricky and cute Sergio was. Forrest thought he was another Contender that would break in front of a world class fighter. (a la Manfredo & Alfonso) This is Forrest's last chance to try to salvage a big pay day so I think he's going to be extra-motivated and win the fight.
Dave Sholler - For whatever reason, Vernon Forrest looked extremely old when he fought Sergio Mora earlier this summer. Whether it be conditioning, age, or lack of interest, Forrest needs to prove that he still possesses championship qualities. I think he does just that in the rematch.
Lyle Fitzsimmons - Sergio Mora by decision over twelve. Most likely a repeat of the last time around, though Forrest turning the tables would hardly be a shock.
Ernest Gabion - The rematch will be close, but I have Sergio Mora by majority decision after twelve.
Shawn Krest - I'm still not sure how Mora won their first bout. Forrest might have overlooked him, because he certainly didn't look prepared. The wake-up call gets answered: 116-112 unanimous decision for Forrest.
Michael Campbell - Sergio Mora to win a close unanimouse decision, 115-113.
Paul Gallegos - This is more of a "Why is this on PPV, than on regular tv?" Is this fight worth the money? Even if it is fight of the year, it is still only worth HBO regular. More than likely the media as well as the boxing experts will choose the champ. I don't know if Forrest can outbox Mora, but I think he is capable of a one punch KO in say, round 5. Forrest by knockout.
Michael Doss - Vernon Forrest will get his redemption. I see twelve-round decision win for "The Viper."
Troy Ondrizek - Do we really have to watch this fight? Forrest hopefully learned from the first fight that he isn't going to knock Mora out. And I believe he did, so a non-lethargic Forrest comes out throwing more punches and backs Sergio up onto his heels, a position that Mora hasn't really had to be and one where he hasn't done well. Forrest by unanimous decision.
Alexey Potapov - I wasn't shocked when Sergio Mora won their first fight. I don't think a lot has changed since the first fight. Vernon's best years are already far behind. I think he's been able to psychologically get past the two defeats by Ricardo Mayorga, but I see Sergio Mora winning a unanimous decision from the judges.
Alphonso Costello - Playing the role of Nostradamus in high school, Sergio Mora predicted that he would one day rule the world as the WBC middleweight champion. He was only six pounds off. The defending 154-pound titleholder will have a tough time staying atop the WBC junior middleweight mountain. A crafty veteran like Vernon Forrest should pull out all the stops to regain his championship trinket and perhaps land himself a meaningful fight against another veteran retread in 2009. Forrest defeats Mora by technical decision in the 7th round when an accidental head butt causes a cut over Mora’s left eye.
John Hively - Vernon Forrest is past his prime and Sergio Mora is on the rise, so I have to go with Sergio in this battle by decision.
Rick Reeno - I might be the only person on the planet who somewhat enjoyed the first Sergio Mora-Vernon Forrest fight. Maybe I'm not a hard man to please. I think Forrest might have overlooked Mora in the first fight. He saw some of Mora's past performances and appeared confident that he could knock him out inside of six. When the knockout didn't come and Forrest wasted most of his energy in the first half of the fight, he didn't have a plan-B on the backburner. I think Vernon is very determined to prove the first fight was nothing more than an "off night." I still expect a close fight, with Vernon winning a decision.
