Vernon Forrest: an Underrated Boxer

Forrest was strong, I don't know how it would have ended against Mayweather but I think Floyd was the favorite. Forrest had a good career, two-division champion, but among the champions he defeated only Mosley (two times). Then he lost twice, the first heavily, against Mayorga, 1 - 1 with Sergio Mora, and against a Quartey at the end of his career he won with a verdict that in my opinion is a real robbery. Forrest was talented, that's true, but he's not underrated in my opinion.

 

I saw Vernon Forrest fight on the undercard of Hopkins vs Taylor 1. He stopped Sergio Rios in 2.

 

I understand what you mean, I respect your opinion but I have a different one.

 

I believe he is a little underrated for two good reasons. One, his shock losses to Ricardo Mayorga. I remember watching both fights live and never being more wrong about either result. Two, he had a major shoulder injury that really had happened his career post 147. Had it not been for Ricardo Mayorga and a bum shoulder, he likely would have had an even better career and possibly had beaten Oscar or Shane.

I was lucky to have seen him fight live as an amateur. He was one of the best of the old USA boxing program.

 

You could say the same about lots of champions in that 2000-2010 stretch. There was such a wealth of respected opponents from 147-154 a fighter could have a career where they beat like 8 or 9 them like Forrest and not really begin to scratch the surface.

Two reasons Forrest probably underrated despite being a dual champion.

Forrest even in the 21st century was a little big for 147-154. He was bigger then Mosley so beating Mosley really doesn't come with a bump over Mosley who feels like a P4P great who had the worst possible career he could have had.

Mayorgas like Chisora at HW today in that hes the big name who lost signifigantly more then most guys at his level. Mayorga was kinda getting passed around like Bob Satterfield after he beat Forrest. So Forrest losing to Mayorga twice in Forrests prime is kinda of a bummer. If you take those 2 losses off the resume the "Forrest could have beaten Floyd" talk is so much more serious.

Forrest should be in the IBHOF already though. And hes not a low level HOFer for me either. But not every HOFer gets talked about constantly.

 

Floyd wasn't really there to avoid him. He was a Lightweight when Forrest already lost his Welterweight title.
I'm not sure if He's underrated either. Among boxing fans He's still brought up quite often. He didn't really have a career that could make for even more debates decades after He's gone. He didn't fight many good fighters on the way up, He didn't have a long title reign and on the elite level of boxing, He only beat one guy - albeit twice.. or three times, if We count the Olympic Trials.

He had a great potential, but He didn't live up to it over the course of his full career. That also goes back to his amateur days, when He lost in the first round of the Olympics against guy He handily beat couple months earlier.

I felt tha He beat Mayorga the second time, although like it was already mentioned by the @Ike (himself!), He was lucky to get a win over Quartey later on.

 

He was a very good fighter.

 

Stil remember the savage right hands he landed on Mosley.
Mosley wouldve been knocked out in the second round had he not one of the best chins ever.

 

The Viper was a terrific boxer puncher with good boxing skills, nice jab, and deadly power that made him hard to deal with. It's still crazy how such a crude and caveman-like fighter like Mayorga was able to beat Forrest not once but TWICE in their encounters. Those losses really set him back and took away that spark that he had when he beat Mosley which stopped him from achieving more. One has to wonder if he would have been able to fight ODLH, Winky or FMJ had he beaten Mayorga the first time.

 

The way Forrest threw his right hand and uppercuts were a thing of beauty, almost Hearns-like. Always loved Forrest's punching technique.

 

Hatton was larger than Mayweather and had fought at 147 prior to fighting Floyd. Totally false equivalence.