During his outstanding career Veron Forrest was a two time world boxing champion in both the welterweight and junior middleweight divisions.
Forrest made his professional boxing debut on November 25, 1992 when he scored a 1st round stoppage victory against Charles Hawkins. After eight years, Forrest got his first opportunity to compete for a major world title when he squared off against Raul Frank for the vacant IBF welterweight championship. An accidental clash of heads in round 3 caused a bad cut on Frank, and that fight was ruled a no contest. But the two had an immediate rematch on May 21, 2001, where this time Forrest easily outpointed Frank to win the vacant IBF championship. Forrest was officially stripped of that title when he decided his next opponent would be Sugar Shane Mosley.
That fight happened on January 26, 2002, and at that time Shane Mosley was the reigning WBC welterweight champion with a perfect record of 38-0 with 35 knockouts. Mosley was also regarded by many as the best pound for pound boxer in the world at that time, and was universally recognized as, at worst, a top 3 talent in all of boxing. This wound up being the career-defining fight for ‘The Viper’. Forrest dominated Mosley, dropping him twice in round 2, en route to a lopsided unanimous decision victory. After once again proving his technical superiority when he won a rematch with Mosley later that year, Forrest suffered back to back losses against Ricardo Mayorga.
After having his career sidetracked by nagging injuries, Forrest resurfaced and became a two time champion at 154 later in his career. In his last professional bout, he won an immediate rematch against the man he had lost the title against, ‘The Latin Snake’ Sergio Mora. After struggling with the slippery Mora in their first contest, Forrest made the necessary tactical adjustments in the rematch. He won a lopsided unanimous decision to reclaim the WBC junior middleweight title. Sadly, this wound up being Forrest’s last fight because he was tragically murdered several months later.
Vernon Forrest was an outstanding talent and an admirable champion whose technical prowess inside the squared circle will long be remembered. This edition of Rummy’s Corner will provide a brief chronological recap of all 10 championship contests that featured Vernon ‘The Viper’ Forrest.. This is part 8 of a new ongoing series of Complete Championship Profiles. Please watch and enjoy the video!
