TalkingBoxing Articles
154 lb. Tailspin
WED June 11, ANDRES ANTONIO CARRIEDO - Vernon Forrest landed a hard right cross on Sergio Mora in the waning seconds of their WBC 154 lb. title match on Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort and grimaced as the East Los Angeles native took the shot. Mora, threw his hands up in the air as if to say,”Let’s go another 12 rounds,” thus, amplifying the difference in the fight. Mora won the fight by modest margins of 116-112 and 115-113 on two cards, while the third judge turned in an even 114-114 score. However, the lasting images of Mora piling on punches at the end of rallies and clearly out-hustling the veteran Forrest throughout the second two thirds of the fight belie the close nature of the scorecards.
A few months ago many fans were calling for a title unification match between Forrest and then IBF 154 lb. titlist, Cory Spinks. The matchup made sense in that Forrest and Spinks were the two most accomplished fighters in the division, which was relatively barren of name talent. Since then, a new life has been breathed into the division. Both Spinks and Forrest lost their titles to heavy underdogs via decision in underwhelming performances.
Spinks conqueror, Verno Phillips, and Mora don’t figure to dominate the division for years to come, but throughout the spring 20-somethings have flooded into the division’s contender ranks as if it was Cancun in March. Yuri Foreman, Joel Julio, Alfredo Angulo and James Kirkland have all scored impressive televised wins in recent months and 2004 US Olympian Vanes Martirosyan figures to join them soon; he fights former title challenger Angel Hernandez in the co-feature of a Versus televised card on June 26th.
Add highly touted contender Sechew Powell and titlists Joachim Alcine and Sergeii Dzinziruk to the mix and we have a division with a fair amount of youth and a lot of parity. Don’t forget that legacy fighters Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Ronald Hearns are slowly working their way up the ranks as well. A division that seemed so thin and top heavy a few short months ago may have actually received a shot in the arm with the collapse of its presumed top three fighters, Forrest, Spinks and former titlist Kassim Ouma, this spring.
There are many openings and some solid fighters positioning themselves to fill those openings. Al Berstein suggested that Mora may look to immediately vacate the WBC belt he won on Saturday. When he gets a chance to look at the division’s landscape, he may want to reconsider that plan. As the first “Contender” series star to finally break through with a significant title victory, Mora is a very marketable commodity. His upset is newsworthy and his title carries some meat in that he earned it by pulling off a very big upset over the highly regarded Forrest. His title belt could well land him fights on HBO against budding stars like Kirkland, Angulo, Chavez Jr., etc. or possibly even aging stars like Oscar De la Hoya, Shane Mosley or Ricardo Mayorga.
Unless he has difficulty making the weight, Mora is probably better off keeping the belt and defending it instead of trying to find a champion in a higher weight class that he can beat. These are exciting times for the 154 lb. division. It’s witnessed far more activity than most of us imagined it would this year. Mora is and can remain a large part of that.
Whatever Mora decides to do next, his toppling of Forrest on Saturday night dramatically changed the complexion of the division. It’s no longer an old man’s division. Increasingly, the young guns are starting to take over.
Farewell Money May, Come Back Soon...
While watching Vernon Forrest lose to Sergio Mora, my feelings on Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s retirement became reinforced. If Mayweather doesn’t want to fight right now, or ever again, then he shouldn’t. He doesn’t have anything left to prove, especially to himself. At this point, complacency and lack of interest can get him embarrassed or hurt. He should not step back into the ropes unless he’s fully ready and willing to perform at his customary elite level. The fact is that the fighter takes all of the risks when he steps into the ring. If he does not perform up to expectations he suffers direct consequences.
Mayweather should not continue to fight if his heart is not in it. The stakes are too high. Eventually, he’ll know if he made the correct decision. Eventually, he’ll know if he wants to come back and finish what he started (e.g. conquering the welterweight division). If the answer is yes then we’ll see the fight we’ve been waiting for, Mayweather-Cotto. If the answer is no, then, unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be. In either case, congratulations on a fine career Floyd…we’ll miss you (even if some of us don’t want to admit it). And remember, you’re welcome back any time, especially if it means you will fight Miguel Cotto.
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