"Happy birthday, champ!" in memoriam, to Vernon "The Viper" Forrest

...I think? Or happy belated?

There is some confusion there. Yes, as crazy as it sounds, nobody seems to know exactly when this public figure - who died at just 38 years old (my current age) less than a dozen years ago - was born.

Depending on where you look, his DOB is alternately listed (with about equal distribution across the internet overall) either as January twelfth, or the same day but of February - in 1971 in whichever case. Wikipedia, findagrave, Boxing Scene, Ringside Report, Sportenote and several other sources (websites/articles) have it as 2/12/71. BoxRec, Ring Magazine, CBZ and his page on IMDb argue for January.

Near as I can figure, some numpty at some point made a transcription error and put either 1/12 in place of 2/12 or vice-versa - with their example then followed by somebody (likely many somebodies) assuming their infallibility. My guess is the original culprit was either a hapless, rushed, stressed-out editor at either BR or Wiki. Then whichever place had it wrong just never realized such, as nobody corrected them, as legion copycats took it at face value and repeated it elsewhere, across every corner of the 'net.

The question, then, is which entry is older - his Wiki page or his BoxRec? Or, more germanely I suppose, the real question is just which is the is correct date? (and then how do we know/prove that, shy a long-form birth certificate )

I've been digging for weeks now, and you guys - it really is too close to call. You'll find dozens of places and individuals citing his birthday as being in either month ...and the strangest part is that nobody seems to have realized this massive 50-50 discrepancy before now. THIS SHOULDN'T BE SO HARD TO FIGURE OUT. We're talking about somebody that came into this world the same year Dirty Harry came out, for chrissake - and held multiple straps at 147 and 154lbs in this century. The fact that one person's error has snowballed in such exponential avalanche fashion (to where the actual fact of the matter is now indiscernable) really blows me away.

So, for the last two fortnights I have been like:

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I have chosen to err on the side of his b-dat taking place in February- that is, today - because a preponderance (but hardly all) of fellow pro boxers on social media have sent him well-wishes on that day, as has, most tellingly, a woman claiming to be his first cousin...which I think can be taken at surface value, because while there are definitely some whackos online, who's going to pretend to be related to a deceased boxer of yesterday who may have been a world titlist but was never a crossover household name type of star and is sadly probably all but forgotten except by diehard fans of this niche sport? Just seems a very random flex to fake, is my feeling.


Anyway, now that we've got that weirdness acknowledged - let's take a moment to remember and respect a very good boxer-puncher (more than a paper tiger, but well short of ATG; there is support for him making the IBHOF but enough against that he will probably remain forevermore on the bubble) and, by all contemporaenous accounts, great fellow outside the ring (hell, the fact that he was killed chasing down a pair of would-be carjackers in and of itself speaks to what a bad ass he was - but in life before that, in less ostentatiously headline-grabbing ways he perpetrated a much quieter heroism with his charitable works). He fought just ten months before his passing, but we probably had seen all there was to see that would be relevant to his pugilistic legacy. This wasn't a case of someone cut down in their prime. We saw him take on a slew of world rated opposition with varying style at different stages of their careers, and left off with a pretty fair idea of where he stood historically. With his mark indelibly etched on the strength of his pair of consecutive victories over Shane Mosley (just as Ricardo Mayorga's in turn was on the strength of his own pair of consecutive victories over Forrest), his professional body of work is otherwise respectable but unexceptional. That's him in a nutshell - very classy operator, content to (and skilled enough to) use his length and jab your head off if you let him, but also perfectly happy to brawl and get rough 'n' dirty in the pocket if you insisted. Solid power, but not a Mister Sandman. Reasonably fast hands, but not a speed demon. Neither really boring to watch nor a guaranteed thrill-ride, often deferring to his opponent's temperament.

Had timing worked out a little differently, of course, and he faced and defeated Félix Trinidad, all that changes. Having both Tito and Sugar (the latter x2) on your résumé makes an unassailable case for the Hall...and would render someon famous enough to not have there be any lingering doubts as to what month they were born. That's a massive if, however. I'm not entirely sure he'd beat Trinidad - but given his size and the stylistic challenges he would pose for the boricua puncher, nor can you call me utterly convinced he wouldn't. Fun one to ponder.

I highly recommend, for those who never saw it, to check out what in my opinion was his actual peak, slightly before he gave SSM his 24 rounds of kicking. Right around the millennium's turn, his final NABF welterweight title defense against Vince Phillips and then his pair of encounters with Rawle Frank to claim the IBF title show him firing on all cylinders. Granted, neither of those guys was Mosley, and you're liable to look better against lower tier competition - but even accounting for that, he was slightly better in '00/'01 than '02 (and certainly beyond) IMO.

Watch at least one Forrest bout, on this slow ass weekend. Pour out a drink for him as you do.

And hey, if we're 31 days off - c'est la vie.

 

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I'd forgotten this until researching this memorial thread, but Forrest was in talks when he died in July 2009) for a match with Sergio Gabriel Martínez later, I believe intended to be set for late autumn. Unlike when Martínez's rival Paul Williams (incidentally his next opponent after Pavlik, instead of Forrest) suffered his motorcycle accident with a career ending injury a few years later, however, with a lucrative Canelo Álvarez bout taken off the proverbial table - I don't think in this case the universe robbed us of a particularly competitive or inscrutable affair. The Viper looked alright in the Latin Snake rematch, but was visibly on the decline by Mora I & II, and I think he would have lost handily to Maravilla on his crescendo.