Vernon Forrest: Still Relevant on His Own Terms

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Jake Donovan - If you want something done right, do it yourself. It shouldn't have to be that way for boxers, not when they have promoters and managers supposedly handling the business side of their careers. But it was a painful lesson Vernon Forrest was forced to learn the hard way, while coming up through the ranks, and again on the comeback trail.

Life has come full circle in the squared circle for Forrest, who despite remaining promotionally independent for the past four years, is still in the mix at and around the junior middleweight division. He has the chance to get one step closer toward the top when he travels to Tacoma, WA this weekend, where he will face Carlos Baldomir in a battle of former linear welterweight champions (Saturday, HBO, 10:15PM ET/PT).

How he got here, and the stage on which he'll perform this weekend, isn't quite what Vernon had in mind when he returned to the ring two years ago, or even last year after his disputed points win over Ike Quartey on HBO's World Championship Boxing series. The normal pecking order, even for comebacking fighters, is to work out the kinks on the Boxing After Dark level before advancing to WCB. But with the 154-lb. division rapidly thinning out and television days becoming sparse, the former welterweight king will take what he can get, especially when limited to one ring appearance per year. [details]

[Don Johnson]

How did forrest even come close to winning. I do admit he had Quartey hurt ONCE in the fight but after that, Quartey controlled the flow of the fight.

[Massage Queen]

Hey Jake.. Great article as always.. Vernon's had a good camp, so the fight should go well.. As far as Hopkins I'm just glad I didn't pay to see the fight..
I've never really been a B-Hop fan though I appreciate all of his accomplisments.. As I told you before.. I think he should take up dancing..
He's great at holding! Keep up the great work Jake!

[JakeNDaBox]

Thanks MQ

MrUnKnockoutabl - it's been a minute since I've re-watched Forrest-Quartey, but I seem to remember the announcers calling a slanted broadcast (in favor of Ike). I don't know if it had to do with crowd reaction or what, as Ghana was well represented in attendance, but honestly, the worst I could say of the final verdict was that I expected a split decision.

I scored it a few times, and never had Ike winning. My official score on fight night was 95-94 - 6 rounds to 4 for Vernon, minus a point deductions. I usually come up with that, and a few times came up with 96-93.

I thought the right guy won, and also that Lampley's claim at the end of the broadcast - that the decision was revenge for Ghana beating the US in the World Cup - was high among the long list of ridiculous statements he's made over the years.

[niceguy45]

if forrest is smart enough, he can get back on top, and get a shot at a belt