Vernon Forrest Vernon Forrest (February 12, 1971 – July 25, 2009) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in two weight class (boxing), weight classes, including the World Boxing Council, WBC, In ...

vs.

Ricardo Mayorga Ricardo Antonio Mayorga Perez (born October 3, 1973) is a Nicaraguan professional boxer and former mixed martial artist. In boxing he is a former two-weight world champion, having held the unified WBA (Unified), WBC, ''Ring'' magazine, and li ...

was a professional boxing match contested on January 25, 2003, at

Pechanga Resort & Casino Pechanga Resort Casino is a Native American casino and integrated resort on the Pechanga Indian Reservation adjacent to the city of Temecula, California. It is one of the largest casino/resorts in the United States, with more than 5,400 slot m ...

Temecula, California Temecula (; , ; Luiseño language, Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and was Municipal corpora ...

. The fight was a unification match, with Forrest's

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

and ''

The Ring The Ring may refer to: Arts and entertainment *The Ring (franchise), ''The Ring'' (franchise), a Japanese horror media franchise Literature * ''The Ring'', a 1967 novel by Richard Chopping * ''The Ring'', a 1988 book by Daniel Keys Moran * ''The R ...

'' welterweight world championships at stake along with Mayorga's

World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded ...

Super championship.

Background

Forrest had won the WBC welterweight championship from

Shane Mosley Shane Mosley (born September 7, 1971), often known by his nickname "Sugar" Shane Mosley, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2016. He held multiple triple champion, world championships in three weight classes, incl ...

on January 26, 2002, at

The Theater at Madison Square Garden The Theater at Madison Square Garden is a theater located in New York City's Madison Square Garden (MSG). It seats between 2,000 and 5,600 people and is used for concerts, shows, sports, meetings, and other events. It is situated beneath the main ...

Despite being a 7 to 1 underdog and facing a fighter who had been regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world at that time, Forrest won a lopsided

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

in a fight where he dropped Mosley twice. Mosley sought an immediate rematch, which took place in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

on July 20, 2002; although the fight was closer on the scorecards this time, Forrest managed to retain his championship. Mayorga had fought for and won several regional Latin American light welterweight and welterweight championships by the time he stepped in the ring with Andrew Lewis for the WBA welterweight championship on July 28, 2001, in Los Angeles. The fight ended in a no contest after Lewis was cut by an accidental clash of heads in the second round. Mayorga would emerge victorious in the rematch on March 30, 2002, in

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fourth-most populous ...

, knocking Lewis out in the fifth round.

Fight information

The bout was televised by

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

as part of its then-ongoing '' World Championship Boxing'' series.

Jim Lampley James Lampley (born April 8, 1949) is an American sportscaster, news anchor, film producer, and restaurant owner. He is best known as a blow-by-blow announcer on ''HBO World Championship Boxing'' for 30 years. He covered a record 14 Olympic ...

called the fight with

Larry Merchant Larry Merchant (born Larry Kaufman; February 11, 1931) is an American sportswriter, a longtime commentator for HBO sports presentations of ''HBO World Championship Boxing'', '' Boxing After Dark'' and HBO pay-per-view telecasts, called "the gre ...

and

George Foreman George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweig ...

as analysts.

Harold Lederman Harold Lederman (January 26, 1940 – May 11, 2019) was an American boxing judge and analyst. He began his career as a boxing judge in 1967 and joined the cast of '' HBO World Championship Boxing'' in 1986, and was there until HBO dropped boxin ...

served as unofficial scorekeeper. The fight's referee was Marty Denkin, with Raul Caiz, Sr., John Keane, and Jon Schorle acting as judges.

The fight

Forrest began the fight by refusing to touch gloves with Mayorga. Mayorga responded by coming out aggressively against the WBC champion, landing an early power shot that hurt Forrest. Eventually his punches resulted in Forrest going down, and Mayorga continued the aggressive punching as the bell rang to end the round. Forrest responded in the second round by going with a more aggressive strategy, implored on by his opponent who refused to back down. Mayorga would land a hard shot to Forrest's head in the third round that buckled Forrest's legs as he went down for a second time. Denkin began his count as Forrest staggered to his feet, but after Forrest failed to respond to his questions after taking the count, Denkin called a halt to the fight and Mayorga won by technical knockout.

Aftermath

He celebrated his victory, among other ways, by smoking a cigarette during his postfight interview; Mayorga, when not training, was known to be a heavy smoker.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrest, Mayorga 2003 in boxing 2003 in sports in California January 2003 sports events in the United States Boxing on BBC Boxing on HBO

Forrest Forrest may refer to: Places Australia *Forrest, Australian Capital Territory *Forrest, Victoria, a small rural township *Division of Forrest, a federal division of the Australian House of Representatives, in Western Australia *Electoral distric ...

Boxing matches in California Welterweight championship matches