Ricardo Mayorga vs. Vernon Forrest II

Battle of Orleans

Date	July 12, 2003
Venue	Orleans Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBA, WBC and The Ring welterweight championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer Ricardo Mayorga Vernon Forrest Nickname El Matador (The Killer) The Viper Hometown Masaya, Masaya, Nicaragua Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Pre-fight record 24–3–1 (22 KO) 35–1 (26 KO) Age 29 years, 9 months 32 years, 5 months Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) Weight 146 lb (66 kg) 147 lb (67 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBA, WBC and The Ring Welterweight Champion WBC/The Ring No. 1 Ranked Welterweight WBA No. 4 Ranked Welterweight
Result
Mayorga via 12th round MD

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]

After 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]}

On 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]

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 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]

Speaking 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]

Mayorga 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]

Speaking 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]

Confirmed 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.

Country	Broadcaster
United States	HBO