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By Cliff Rold - Right off the top, let me say how happy it should make every fight fan that former IBF junior lightweight titlist Stevie Forbes (33-9, 5 KO) is getting a crack at boxing’s ‘golden’ ticket. Forbes came of age in the sport at a moment when 130 lbs. was as deep and talented a pool as any in recent memory. Mayweather, Corrales, Freitas, Casamayor… Forbes on his best day would have made a fight with any of them.
As is too often the case though, there’s only so much room at the top. Much as was the experience for Stevie Johnston five pounds up the scale, Forbes was the wrong combination of style and small reward to get a chance to show exactly where he fit. When you’ve read this week from knowledgeable insiders this week that Forbes has a shot, it is because they know what he was and might have been.
Win on Saturday night against former super lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight champion Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KO), and all the yesterdays denied Forbes will be trumped by a right now that is all his.
And a Forbes win could be even more than that.
For all the fans who see through the infomercial feel of it all; who see the attempt at a seductive enticement to believe Mayweather Beats De La Hoya II will be anything more than that label; for those real, true fans who’ve kept boxing afloat over the years and scream out for Mayweather-Cotto instead of a bout that smacks of corporate subsidy, a Forbes win would be of near Biblical proportions.
The only problem with the hope for a little old-time religion come Saturday is that, with multi-millions on the table, Forbes got the call. That has to dampen the spirits.
Let’s go to the report card: [details]
As is too often the case though, there’s only so much room at the top. Much as was the experience for Stevie Johnston five pounds up the scale, Forbes was the wrong combination of style and small reward to get a chance to show exactly where he fit. When you’ve read this week from knowledgeable insiders this week that Forbes has a shot, it is because they know what he was and might have been.
Win on Saturday night against former super lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight champion Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KO), and all the yesterdays denied Forbes will be trumped by a right now that is all his.
And a Forbes win could be even more than that.
For all the fans who see through the infomercial feel of it all; who see the attempt at a seductive enticement to believe Mayweather Beats De La Hoya II will be anything more than that label; for those real, true fans who’ve kept boxing afloat over the years and scream out for Mayweather-Cotto instead of a bout that smacks of corporate subsidy, a Forbes win would be of near Biblical proportions.
The only problem with the hope for a little old-time religion come Saturday is that, with multi-millions on the table, Forbes got the call. That has to dampen the spirits.
Let’s go to the report card: [details]
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