Solid. Won a paper belt early in his career (after not many fights) then lost it by failing to make weight and never really recovered from that. I do think he developed a sparring partners mentality, after being used by so many Champions to prepare for elusive opponents. Forbes realized he could make comfortable money as a sparring partner, and settled for that.
He was solid coming up. A pretty nice prospect that most figured would be a titlist and have a solid career. I agree with SJS19, he turned into a sparring partner too early and adopted that mentality. He started moving up in weight and doing just enough to give good fighters work.
Nice boxer. At his very best, a poor man's Mayweather. (but in about the most complimentary way possible - of all those who can be described as "poor man's Mayweather" he is among the greatest) That is thanks in no small part to his very close lifelong ties with the entire family. I believe he is one of the few to ever have worked under all three brothers (Jeff, Floyd Sr., and Roger) at some point or another? :think Maybe the only person ever? He was already past his prime when he appeared on The Contender - and he was a shrimp compared to those guys (some like Brewer and Bundrage with the bodies of middleweights, where he was never exactly a big super feather in his prime) - and he made the finals, and was damn competitive and one could argue got jobbed in the championship match. The fact that he was able to stay in the spotlight for so long after his star initially faded speaks to what a hard worker he was. (as does Oscar De La Hoya seeking him out as his preparatory tune-up for the World Awaits sequel that never happened...and the fact that he busted Oscar's face up, even in light of what fate befell a weight-drained DLH shortly after that) He never had much pop but was very well schooled.
I can't give a conscionable sign-off to him being a paper champ. As of then beating John Brown x2 and Santos did mean something. It wasn't like it was some kind of supernova reign as brilliant as it was brief or anything, but he was a legit champion unless we're calling anyone who "only" acquires themselves a piece of ABC pie a paper titlist. There wasn't a great depth or remarkable quality in his opposition but it was no worse than passing fair and his performances bespoke him being more than simply 'lucky to have been in the correct ring at the correct time with the correct ranking and the correct man in front of them' (which is how I personally define a paper champ; meaning in any half-decent era they don't get so much as one teaspoonful of alphabet soup) That much is definitely true. The entire latter half of his career, I'd say, he would put in the grueling work in the gym throughout camp & during layoffs - always in shape & sharp - but then fail to "carpe diem" under the big lights. A couple of the occasions on which he griped about decisions not going his way, you have to sort of shrug and say "Well, yeah, Steve, maybe you did out-box him...but maybe to some judges what you did was just enough to not get it...dig?" Besides, he about broke even on the questionable ones. (Demetrius Hopkins balanced out Francisco Bojado)
Yes, quite clearly. He then got what may have been a "make-up nod" against Bojado, although that one wasn't daylight robbery so much as the official loser having deserved it close but clear. (2lb over D-Hop shouldn't have even been all that close)
:think Yeah, they have some in-ring parallels to go along with the obvious. :yep (both nicknamed "Stevie"...both with ring names highlighting their diminutive stature: "Lil But Bad" and "2 Pound", referring to Forbes' premature birth weight)
