Mora-Forrest II: Who cares?

Will it be Mora the same this Saturday? Can Sergio beat Vernon one Mora time? Was it Mora than a feeling that June night in Connecticut? Mora, Mora, Mora? How do you like it? How do you like it? We'll find out Saturday, when we're charged Mora our money to see this highly unanticipated rematch!

How many Mora these headlines can YOU stand?

I don't mean to sound rude, and if anything I don't mind this fight as support on a pay-per-view (though it would be nice if it wasn't the only thing of any interest), but who wants to see this fight? Anyone? Bueller?

The first fight was hardly what you'd call exciting. The skilled, punchless Mora simply out-cardio'd the aging Forrest in Uncasville that night, and wound up winning a majority decision. Truthfully, Forrest was fighting fine until he ran out of gas -- the problem there is that he ran out of gas very early.

Through the eight rounds I scored live, I had Forrest ahead, 77-75. Watching it on replay the next day, I tried to put the official decision out of my mind and score rounds 9-12. And despite my distaste for Mora, whose career has been littered with mistakes driven by an arrogant personality, I couldn't have given him anything less than a draw that night, and my official stance would be a 115-113 win for "The Latin Snake."

He's lanky. He's awkward. He has real defensive skills and some slick offensive moves, too, even without any knockout power. And perhaps most importantly, he's 10 years younger than Forrest. As our pal Tim Starks said at Ring Report, "If Forrest had trouble with weight last time, I don’t know why he wouldn’t again."

That pretty much sums it up. Vernon Forrest is guilty until proven innocent right now. At 37, conditioning and making weight comfortably is going to be an issue before every fight until he shows on fight night that it won't be. He all but fell apart in June, giving up the latter half of the fight because he just couldn't keep pace.

The biggest issue in trying to care about this fight, though, is just the lack of long-term influence it's likely to have. The 154-pound division is arguably the least interesting in the sport. Forrest is nearing retirement. Mora is likely to move back up to middleweight as soon as he can.

I'm still no great fan of Mora, but his persistence impressed me last time out. I also thought it was admirable that he shut Forrest up with the win, as Forrest had gone a little past the lines of good taste in the pre-fight trash talk, threatening to send Mora home on a stretcher. That also made me no great fan of Forrest, so it's hard to even find a rooting interest, personally.

I guess in the end I'm picking and slightly rooting for Sergio Mora, which feels weird. He's the man with the bigger future, who could make some real money fights should he win again.

But you can't lie -- this isn't the most interesting rematch you're ever going to see. No one asked, but Forrest demanded. And so here we are. Hopefully, we can get a surprisingly exciting and competitive fight. Maybe there's enough bad blood left.