Ricardo Mayorga vs. Vernon Forrest II, billed as the Battle of Orleans, was a professional boxing match contested on 12 July 2003, for the WBA, WBC and The Ring welterweight championship.[1]
Date | July 12, 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Venue | Orleans Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Title(s) on the line | WBA, WBC and The Ring welterweight championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mayorga via 12th round MD |
Background
editAfter his upset victory over Vernon Forrest in January 2003, unified welterweight champion Ricardo Mayorga agreed to an immediate rematch.[2] Speaking that a media event to announce the re-match on 20 May, Mayorga said: "He is going down. I am hungrier for this fight than I have ever been. I invite everybody to come out and watch two great rounds of boxing."[3][4][5][6][7][8]
The fights
editUndercard
editOn the untelevised portion of the card, Pete Frissina defeated Jesús Salvador Pérez by split decision in a IBF bantamweight title eliminator.
Vivian Harris successfully defended his WBA (Regular) belt against No. 1 ranked Souleymane M'baye. Harris dropped his unbeaten opponent in the 2nd round enroute to a unanimous decision victory. With two judges scoring the bout 116–111 and one having it 117–110.[9][10]
Corley vs. Judah
editTitle(s) on the line | WBO light welterweight title | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Judah defeats Corley by split decision |
In the first of the two televised bouts, WBO light welterweight titleholder DeMarcus Corley made the third defence of his title against former IBF junior welterweight champion Zab Judah.[11]
Speaking before the bout Corley would admit that this was his biggest fight thus far saying "Is this the biggest fight I've had? You could say that, yeah, I think because it's on HBO and they say once you made it to HBO, you've made it. So it's a test for me to display my talent all over the world, also to HBO, to see what I can do." He would also suggest that he was aiming to challenge undisputed light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu.[12]
Judah meanwhile had been out of the ring for almost a year, having been involved in legal disputes with his former promoter, Main Events. Having signed with new promoter Don King, a match up with fellow King fighter Corley was arranged. The two men had been involved in brawl at a bar in Philadelphia in March. Judah had giving an interview to Ring magazine after the Bernard Hopkins vs. Morrade Hakkar bout when Corley walked past. After an exchange of words Judah threw a punch at Corley prompting a scuffle with flying chairs and phones before the police broke it up.[13][14]
The fight
editThe champion was dropped by a looping left from Judah in the third round. Corley would work himself back into the bout during the middle rounds but Judah was able to control most of the fight by jabbing and moving and making Corley miss with his best punches.
At the end of 12 rounds judge Duane Ford, scored it 115–112 for Corley while judges Chuck Giampa and Michael Pernik, scored it 115–112 for Judah, giving him a split decision victory. HBO's unofficial scorer Harold Lederman had it 116–111 for Judah.[15]
Aftermath
editSpeaking after bout Judah said "I felt a little rusty with a year off, but I think I had a great fight."
Corley meanwhile felt like he had done enough saying "He caught me with one fast punch that knocked me down, I still thought I won, despite the knockdown. I'd love to fight him again, but next time I'd put more pressure on him."[16]
Main Event
editMayorga would dominate much of the first half of the bout rocking Forrest in the second round. Forrest would take control from the halfway point as Mayorga tired, before the champion would come back to end the bout on top.
After 12 rounds Jerry Roth scored the bout a draw at 114-114, but Larry O'Connell had it 115-114 and Ove Oveson had 116-112 both for Mayorga giving him a majority decision victory.[17][18][19] Unofficial HBO scorer Harold Lederman had it 115–113 in favour of Mayorga, while the LA Times scored it 114–114.[20]
Aftermath
editSpeaking in ring after the bout Mayorga would say "Forrest is a sissy and doesn't punch that hard. He fought a lot better this time, he could have beaten most welterweights." He would later state he wanted to face unified light middleweight champion Oscar De La Hoya next.[21][22][23]
Undercard
editConfirmed bouts:[24]
Winner | Loser | Weight division/title belt(s) disputed | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Zab Judah | DeMarcus Corley | WBO Light Welterweight Championship | Split decision. |
Non-TV bouts | |||
Vivian Harris | Souleymane M'baye | WBA (Regular) Light Welterweight Championship | Unanimous decision. |
Pete Frissina | Jesús Salvador Pérez | IBF Bantamweight Title Eliminator | Split decision. |
Syd Vanderpool | Demetrius Jenkins | Light Heavyweight (10 rounds) | 9th round TKO. |
Kili Madrid | Marteze Logan | Welterweight (4 rounds) | Majority Draw. |
Mario Preskar | Roman Armstrong | Heavyweight (4 rounds) | 1st round TKO. |
Broadcasting
editCountry | Broadcaster |
---|---|
United States | HBO |
References
edit- ^ "Ricardo Mayorga vs. Vernon Forrest (2nd meeting)". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ "Mayorga fells Forrest". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 26 January 2003. Archived from the original on 7 February 2003. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ "Mayorga eyes Forrest repeat". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 20 May 2003. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ Max Kellerman (9 July 2003). "Forrest-Mayorga Still Raises Plenty of Questions". espncdn.com. ESPN. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ Frank Lotierzo (8 July 2003). "Forrest-Mayorga II: Forrest Faces Boxing's Toughest Foe". tss.ib.tv. The Sweet Science. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ Sean Stowell (4 July 2003). "Mayorga Puts his Money Where his Mouth is". maxboxing.com. Max Boxing. Archived from the original on 14 July 2003. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ Jason Probst (10 July 2003). "The Finest Doubleheader of the Year". maxboxing.com. Max Boxing. Archived from the original on 24 July 2003. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ Thomas Gerbasi (9 July 2003). "Vernon Forrest: A Good Guy Aims for First Again". maxboxing.com. Max Boxing. Archived from the original on 10 August 2003. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "Vivian Harris vs. Souleymane M'baye". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ Steve Kim (11 July 2003). "Vivian Harris, Made You Look". maxboxing.com. Max Boxing. Archived from the original on 13 July 2003. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "Zab Judah vs. DeMarcus Corley". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ Steve Kim (7 July 2003). "Something for the Ladies from 'Chop Chop'". maxboxing.com. Max Boxing. Archived from the original on 3 August 2003. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ GEOFFREY GRAY (12 July 2003). "BOXING; In Judah-Corley Fight, Clothes Will Clash, Too". New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ Thomas Gerbasi (8 July 2003). "Zab Judah: Raise The Game or Get Left Behind". maxboxing.com. Max Boxing. Archived from the original on 10 August 2003. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ Selena Azaneka (27 May 2015). "Zab Judah vs DeMarcus Corley Full Fight (HD)". youtube.com. Youtube. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ Doug Fischer (13 July 2003). "Judah takes control in later rounds". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
- ^ Ken Peters (14 July 2003). "Boxing: Mayorga's maverick approach cuts down Forrest". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ "Mayorga retains titles". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 13 July 2003. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ Associated Press (12 July 2003). "Mayorga hammers out 12-round majority decision". espncdn.com/. ESPN. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ Springer, Steve (July 13, 2003). "Mayorga Holds On to Titles". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
- ^ Maxboxing (13 July 2003). "Champ's top priority: scheduling De La Hoya". espncdn.com. ESPN. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ GEOFFREY GRAY (14 July 2003). "BOXING; Mayorga's Success Is Habit-Forming". New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ Steve Kim (14 July 2003). "Mayorga Can Run Marathons Too". maxboxing.com. Max Boxing. Archived from the original on 16 July 2003. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "BoxRec - event".