I'm watching the fight right now and Forrest was undefeated with 35 wins, just beat Mosley, was recognized as the lineal WW champion.. and amongst the p4p best in the world. Yet, here comes this cocky, flamboyant guy from Nicaragua.. who takes Forrest's best shots, and KO's him. How did the boxing world react after that fight?
It wasn't a huge upset because Forrest wasn't a hugely popular fighter. Mosley losing to Forrest was a much bigger upset. I don't know what the odds were for Mayorga-Forrest II, but I do remember a lot of people saying that Forrest would have to be careful because of how dangerous Mayorga was.
Forrest wasn't really popular? He came out the ring with 2 rappers and the HBO crew said the odds were 6-1 for Forrest. I was around 10 years old though, so I don't really remember what happened during that time frame.
Forrest was in the top 3 pound for pound after beating Mosely..,Ricardo was seen as a dangerous but limited banger who was too crude to beat Forrest so yeah was a pretty big upset..
Man, if ever a guy out-thought himself after getting out-psyched it was in this fight. Poor man's Duran-Leonard these two fights, very interesting fights.
well mayorga had destroyed 6 heads so he wasn't exactly unknown but forrest was a big favourite because he'd just scored two victories over the p4p number 1. it was crazy though cos forrest wasn't really getting the respect he wanted and mayorga actually was quite popular cos he had charisma and didn't give a **** about anything - he'd smoke cigars and **** during training. i don't think anyone considered like upset of the year material though. It wasn't massively different to say margarito beating cotto - one guy had the skills the other guy had the wills.
he was along the line of types like rocky graziano and lew jenkins in the sense that he had an abundance of power but you knew he wouldn't be on top for very long just a guy with a huge punch very exciting
Mayorga was an anomaly. I haven't seen the Trinidad fight but Forrest and Mosley couldn't figure him out. Oscar fought him perfect, he only really got hit once. Mosley didn't get hit much more but he seemed to stand in front of him for long periods and not do anything. How much was he dehydrating at 147? I know he was in the 170's at 154. It's a shame he didn't work with a great trainer who could remodel him a little cause he had a pretty chin, pretty good guts and pretty good power provided he could land on you. The Vargas fight was a bit of joke. Fernando looked like absolute **** in there. Like he was in his 40's and been retired for 8 years rather than 29 and coming off a 14 month lay-off.
I just looked at the Trinidad-Mayorga fight a couple minutes ago. I don't really judge that fight since it was at Middleweight and Mayorga's last fight was at Welterweight. But it was highly exciting, I forget how much of an exciting fighter and how good of a finisher Trinidad was. Mayorga's technique is weird though. The way he throws his punches is laughable compared to the elite stage, but once he hit you.. it was gonna hurt. It's amazing how he got so far in his career using that style.
It was a very big upset for boxing fans. Forrest was considered to polished and to skillful for Mayorga to stand a real chance. The rematch was even more suprising as Mayorga decisioned Forrest over 12 highly contested rounds, not just a got caught big shot scenario. On paper Forrest is much the better fighter, but its why you fight the fights in the ring and not mythically. Can you say Mayweather vs Margarito??? Certain styles trouble certain fighters and its why a fighter like Mayweather is'nt respected for his cherrypicking ways. Who's to say Margarito would'nt have been Mayweather's kryptonite when Mayorga was Forrests??? You fight them in the ring not with a big mouth!
forrest had the skills to outbox mayorga....the moment he felt mayorga's power everything went south for him, he was like a kid fighting the boogeyman...mayorga just took his heart and crushed it....
