After Vernon Forrest dropped and beat up then-pound-for-pound king and amateur rival Shane Mosley to take his welterweight world title by lopsided decision in a shocker, Mosley invoked his contractual right to an immediate rematch hoping to avenge his first career defeat and regain his P4P status and title. Almost six months later to the day they met again in the main event of a highly significant HBO card at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, where I was ringside to cover what was one of the featured events of the annual Indiana Black Expo.
Forrest didn’t beat up Mosley this time but he once again soundly outboxed him, using his long jab to negate Mosley’s speed advantage to retain the title via scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113 before 15,775, the largest crowd for a boxing event in Indiana history. Forrest moved to 3-0 against Mosley with two huge pro wins and a victory in their much discussed amateur bout in the semifinals of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials. The pro rematch was on July 20, 2002 — 21 years ago on Thursday. Here is a scarce site poster in my collection.
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