Forrest gets up to record 1st stoppage win of the SimSeason

[m1kee50]

Vernon 'The Viper' Forrest picked himself up off the floor at the Reliant Center in Houston last night to score a dramatic TKO victory over veteran fighter Ramon 'Yory Boy' Campas. Competing in his first Simbout of the SimSeason, Campas is a well-known figure from his pro career where he has shared the ring with all-time-greats such as Hector Camacho Sr (and Jr), Oscar De La Hoya, and Felix Trinidad.

While reports from the training camp indicated that Campas had skimped on his training, he came in on the weight and looked motivated at the bell. Indeed the first telling blow of the fight was landed by Campas as Forrest missed with an uppercut and Campas landed one of his own, leaving Forrest hanging on momentarily. Forrest roared back into the round with some uppercuts of his own and worked off a snappy jab. Campas managed to get a spurious lecture from the third man for use of the head but most ringside observers saw nothing untoward.

Round two saw both men come out swinging, Forrest getting the neater work done to the head while Campas threw some damaging shots to the body. The most even round of the night was marked out by a highlight-reel combination from Forrest, a jab to the head and a straight right hand followed by a left hook to the body and finished off with a short chopping right to the head.

The third round probably surprised Forrest as much as it did the ringside press. Seemingly unable to hit the target against a man who has never been one for getting out of the way, Forrest ate some career-shortening shots, and if he was not such a high-profile fighter, would probably have been stopped. Teddy Atlas spent most of the following minute 'talking earnestly' in Forrest's ear and it was a suitably motivated 'Viper' that stepped forward for the fourth. As decisive as Campas was a winner of the previous round, Forrest went one stage further and beat Campas around the ring for three minutes. Taking some shots in the process, he found Campas' head enough to put some serious credit in with the judges. Atlas was very encouraging to Forrest in the break and he fairly bounced off his stol... only to walk straight into a combination from Campas that dropped him hard at the start of the fifth.

Up at 4, but still groggy, Forrest essentially gave up on the round and tried to stay at range, away from Campas' inside-power. His erstwhile trainer providing another loud burst of 'advice; in his eardrum, Forrest must have decided to stop messing around and take charge - he probably didnt expect to do this well however. Letting his hands go, he basically stopped Campas getting his own momentum going in the sixth and piled up the damaging blows, mixing precise and speedy combinations with less disclipined power shots that rocked Campas on his heels. At 2:43 Forrest landed an unruly but devastating hook that made Campas' eyes glaze over. Denny Nelson leapt in and no-one complained - you could see it had hurt Campas. A good night's work for the 'Viper' then, but plenty of lessons to be learned.

[BoxBuzz]

Good write up!

Will you reserve your considerable analytical writing abilities only for Vernon's wins? Or would you consider our request that you lend your talent for use in reflection regarding a future bout between Forrest and Williams?

[JDC]

Good to see both Bell and Forest taking good form into their rematch