About the best thing one could say about the uninspired rematch between Vernon Forrest and Shane Mosley is that it was a tough fight to score. In round after ugly round, Forrest controlled the pace with a mind-numbing parade of feints and clinches while Mosley tried to pick him off with an improbable one-punch knockout. In some rounds, Mosley's infrequent bombs stole the show, while in others Forrest's ability to confuse and intimidate his rival was amazing. At the end of the night, Mosley had actually stolen enough of the lame rounds to tally a lead on the Boxing Chronicle scorecard. But the numbers didn't accurately tell the story of Mosley's performance, which was anything but worthy of a title change. Usually all-smiles prior to a fight, a grim-faced Mosley wouldn't even look at Forrest during the rematch's final instructions. Moments later, Mosley steamrolled Forrest by landing a lead left hook and piston right cross nearly simultaneously with the opening bell. Forrest was stunned by the lightning quick punches, and grabbed onto Mosley as the two fell into the ropes. Once separated, Mosley darted his head and circled his gloves in a display of overwhelming energy. Mosley launched a wild overhand right and tried to find Forrest's body as the first minute of the bout ticked away. Forrest backed away from Mosley at first, but finally answered with a blistering counter right hand at the 60-second mark. The punch rattled Mosley to the tips of his toes. There is an unwritten rule in boxing that says when a fighter gets hit, anything new he learned in the gym goes out the window and the old tendencies resurface. After the first minute of their rematch, both Mosley and Forrest proved this theorem correct. The champion quickly took to his frustrating jab-and-hold formula while Mosley reverted to his obsession with welterweight power. Rather than pepper Forrest with the combinations he's famous for, Mosley hunted for an opening to land a bomb. As the first round ticked away, Mosley touched Forrest's body a few times, but landed little else. As such, he eked out a close opener on our cards. In the second round, Mosley again loaded up with one-punch, launching and landing a heavy overhand right. Again, Forrest was quick to respond, cracking Mosley with a perfect straight right a few seconds later. Both men were firing their most deadly weapons at full tilt, and each seemed startled when the other landed. Trying to keep the fight at center ring, Mosley glided to Forrest's right, pausing only to miss another speedy one-two. Sugar followed up his miss with an overhand right that landed, but was surprised when Forrest countered with a short left hook. The two spent the entire round launching individual home-run swings, and with no other memorable clean shots to score, Mosley again seemed to just barely win a close round. The key to Forrest's success was an effective jab, and he started the third round by pushing out his long left arm more frequently. Before too long, Forrest instinctively followed the jab with a cross and Mosley's chin was open. Mosley was attempting to avoid the blow with his careful footwork, but Forrest never stepped into Mosley when he moved away. Instead he shuffled sideways with Mosley, cutting off the ring and forcing Mosley's back to touch the ropes. On the ropes, Mosley quickly learned what Forrest had been working on in camp: a much-improved left hook. The punch, which had debuted a round earlier, again strafed Mosley's face. Shane escaped unharmed from the exchange, but was still looking too hard for a perfect opening. He found one such opportunity late in the round, when his uppercut snapped Forrest's head and brought a rather-sedated crowd to its feet. After the blow landed, Mosley's arms became tangled in Forrest's. Had he intended the uppercut to start a three or four punch combination, Forrest might not have been able to grab him so easily. But with a one-and-done offense, Mosley needed to do much more to secure the round. After Forrest's dramatic destruction of Mosley in the first bout, the conventional boxing wisdom said that Forrest had fought at his best while Mosley had other tools he could fall back on. That wisdom was being turned on its ear early and often as Mosley's battering ram gameplan looked too much like his first losing effort while Forrest was showing off a few new tricks. Primarily, Forrest was catching Mosley with a short left hook that the challenger was simply not expecting. Forrest led with the hook twice in the first minute of round four, landing one on Mosley's jawline and missing a second when Mosley ducked just in time. Mosley took the punches better than he had Forrest's first-fight power shots, but the accumulation of clean shots seemed to be weighing very heavily on his mind. Mosley kept away from Forrest for a good minute after the hooks, getting close only to land two dipping hooks to the body just before Forrest completed his clinches. If Forrest's body was all that was available, then Mosley would take it, and he attacked downstairs again by reaching back before landing a wide right hand to Vernon's side. It was a beautiful punch, and set up a crisp left uppercut that Mosley planted on Forrest's chin a moment later. Again, Forrest clinched after the telling blow, preventing any follow-up beyond a few tapping shots to the side before the break. Mosley's uppercut was the telling blow of the round, and tipped another close (but slow) round in Mosley's favor. With Mosley's brute power getting through to Forrest occasionally, the champion's trainer begged for his man to take control of the pace. Ronnie Shields yelled at Forrest "I want you to make this a dull fight!" Ever the perfect student, Forrest followed his coach's instructions perfectly. Forrest came at Mosley in the fifth round pumping out his jab and twitching his cocked right hand. The frantic herky-jerky motion of Mosley's stance had quelled with fatigue, and Forrest had landed enough heavy blows by this point to have Mosley's complete respect. Now Forrest bought time, grabbing Mosley's arms when he got close and toying with his reflexes by constantly stomping his feet or lurching his shoulders. Despite the fact that Forrest's black mouthpiece was hanging out of his open mouth for the entire round, Mosley could not muster the nerve required to call Forrest's bluffs and counter. Instead he stayed out at the end of Forrest's range-finder, giving Vernon a chance to catch his breath as well as establish the pace. Although Forrest didn't really tag Mosley with any significant blows, the effortless manner in which he tamed the once-ferocious Mosley with body language won him the round. As the sixth began, Mosley ventured out with two wild overhand rights. The first landed on Forrest's temple, the second on his ear. Forrest may have been stunned, but his ability to tangle Mosley up after each blow prevented any follow-up shots from confirming. After bouncing these two rights off of Forrest's head, Mosley again was kept at bay by Forrest's pawing jab and intimidating (but unthrown) right. Time and again Mosley would circle, build up the courage to throw first, miss and then wind up in a clinch that lasted longer than the space between punches. The Indianapolis crowd booed at first, and then seemed apathetic. Then, with 30 seconds to go, the entire crowd leapt to its feet. A real fight had broken out in the stands, and for the remainder of the excruciatingly boring sixth round, the entire crowd turned their heads away from the welterweight championship to watch two drunks tussle. Even Evander Holyfield, with his front-row-center seat, joined the crowd in watching the sideshow. Only the television audience actually witnessed the last half-minute of this round, not that anything of import happened. When it came time to score, we tallied the round for Mosley based on his two rights to start the frame. Many ringsiders, including the official judges, favored Forrest and the way in which he flexed his ring generalship. But clinches aren't punches, and we'll stick with our vote for Mosley in round six, no matter how minimal his effort may have been. With Mosley throwing only a handful of punches per round, Forrest needed to land only a minimum of his own shots to tip these close rounds in his favor. He did so in the seventh by returning to his hook. Forrest landed the wide left twice early in round seven, then followed with two rights, one a fist and one a forearm. Both nailed Mosley on the mouth. At the end of these punches, Mosley appeared lost. Unable to solve the Forrest puzzle, Mosley settled for targeting his few attempts to the body. And while these infrequent swings did find Forrest's ribs, they were too few and too far between to actually weaken the champion's legs. Beyond these shots, Mosley didn't appear to have a backup plan. As he pondered his options, Forrest again taunted him with feints. In fact, the last 20 seconds of the round was little more than a series of Forrest fake-outs. Each time Vernon jerked, Mosley pulled away. Finally, Forrest actually followed through with a punch, and the resulting jab pushed Mosley's forehead back so that it was pointing towards the ceiling. A clear round for Forrest. The eighth frame was another hand-wringer for anyone asked to choose a 10-9 winner. 99% of the round involved Forrest feinting, keeping Mosley away with soft jabs that found air but established a distance, and ugly wrestling spawned from the perpetual clinching. This was not the sweet science. In terms of ring generalship, Vernon Forrest was dominating the match. Mosley was a mess of reactions and simply could not control the pace of the bout. That said, Forrest didn't land one meaningful punch on Mosley in the entire round. Mosley did land, although not much. He shook Forrest with a wicked left hook that timed Forrest's own hook early in the round, and popped Forrest's sides as the referee called for breaks. As far as offense goes, it was minimal at best... but when compared with Forrest's efforts, we scored for Mosley. In our book, ring generalship cannot exists completely free of clean punching, and thus Forrest simply cannot win the round by forcing Mosley to be inactive. In his corner, Mosley was being told that he was way behind in the fight. The advice stood in sharp contrast to the "everything's fine" attitude that plagued Mosley's father in the first fight. Mosley realized the situation he was in, but simply couldn't find a way to work around Forrest's octopus clinches. Early in round nine, Mosley landed two solid left hooks to the body. As Forrest tried to hook Mosley's arms, a frustrated Sugar blatantly laced Forrest before the break. Forrest got in a lick of revenge by tagging Mosley with a double left hook in the next exchange, and Mosley again was reduced to hunting for bodyshot openings. The round was not fought with much intensity, and the constant holding seemed to exhaust the live crowd as much as the fighters. So dull was the round, that Mosley was able to easily steal the round when he popped Forrest on the forehead with a flush overhand right, one of the night's best. The audience, starved for action, cheered for the first time in several rounds. The cheer soon grew to a mini-standing ovation, as Mosley quickly followed his right with a hook-right-hook to a bent-over Forrest. The sudden explosion of handspeed and the rare appearance of a combination made the crowd go crazy. Forrest was not hurt, but he let the round slip away. As in the first fight, Forrest looked like he was trying to coast out the final half of the bout with his jab. For the most part his plan was working: Mosley was winning rounds only by stealing them. But in the tenth, Forrest's coasting was simply coasting. The tenth was the only round that Mosley won with a modicum of authority. Flashing renewed upper-body movement, Mosley quickly attacked Forrest with the overhand right. After the punch ricocheted off the top of Forrest's head, Mosley swung the right with a scary intensity to Vernon's ribs. The dormant crowd cheered Mosley on, hoping that his mini-rally might spark a competitive fight. Backing Forrest to the ropes, Mosley uncorked a violent hook/uppercut to the center of Forrest's chest. Forrest immediately countered over the top with a chopping downward right hand that nailed Mosley's face and stopped the rally. The rest of the round quelled to the previous one-punch-and-clinch action of the early rounds... but Mosley's temporary rally banked him the round. In the eleventh round, both fighters appeared to be leaving saving up for the final round. Two and a half minutes of clinching returned the bout to a boring pace before Forrest finally moved his hands. As Mosley circled past a neutral corner, Forrest clipped him with a lead left hook and a flush follow-up right hand. Mosley's knees jolted and he leaned on the ropes. Now it was Mosley's turn to hold on, and he grabbed Forrest before more damage could be done. The round ended a moment later, leaving Forrest a clear-cut winner. A few seconds before the final round, this reporter looked down at his notebook and saw Mosley leading Forrest by a score of 106-103. The score didn't seem right. The entire fight was being controlled by Forrest. Mosley had been reduced to a desperate puncher. The fact that Mosley had stolen a number of rounds in which Forrest had done next-to-nothing did little to erase the fact that Mosley was not "doing enough to take the title." Even though he was winning the fight on our cards, the overall impression of the fight was that he was trying to catch up and simply couldn't. Mosley's father/trainer told him he needed knockout in the final round. Mosley opened the round by launching and landing three perfect overhand rights. Each punch caught a cautious Forrest standing still, although none of these blows came close to rendering him unconscious. Unfortunately, these right hands made up the bulk of the action, as the two tired fighters closed the show with a series of clinches. The final thirty seconds of the round saw neither man attempt any serious blows. Not even the ten-second clacker could inspire Mosley and Forrest to let it all hang out for the final bell. Again, based on his rights, we scored the final round for Mosley. But the overwhelming feeling in the air was that Mosley had come far short of wrestling Forrest's title away. The final Boxing Chronicle scorecard read Mosley 116, Forrest 112. But many rounds could have swung, and anyone impressed with the way Forrest kept Mosley away by threatening to throw his right could have easily flipped the tally to 116-112. Such was the case with the official judges, who scored the bout 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111 for Vernon Forrest. With his victory, Vernon Forrest (now 35-0/26) established himself as a superstar, and a rightful claimant to the title of "best welterweight in the world." But, ironically, this reputation-solidifying win probably did little to raise Forrest's stock. Once again, Forrest won an unexciting fight. Worse, he now sits on the throne as king of an empty division. Unless Kostya Tszyu moves up in weight, Forrest may now be where Mosley was a year ago: an undefeated champion without a defining challenger. For Mosley (38-2/35), the defeat is a major setback... and not just because Mosley has pulled a DelaHoya and lost two important bouts in a short period of time. Mosley's biggest setback comes from the seeming evaporation of his once dominant style. The body work, the combinations, the angles, the creativity... all gone. Seemingly self-hypnotized by his brutal kayos of Willie Wise, Adrian Stone, and Shannan Taylor, Mosley has now twice relied on his booming power to save him, and come up short. After the bout, he sighted the difficulty in making 147... but the problem may run deeper. With an announced move to 154, Mosley will have to recapture some of his lightweight lightning if he hopes to battle even bigger opponents. On the undercard: Antonio Tarver avenged his only defeat by knocking the high holy shit out of Eric Harding. Harding dominated the first three rounds of the fight, mainly because Tarver appeared too scared to challenge the man who shattered his jaw with a single punch. But in the fourth round, Tarver countered an attacking Harding with a short left hand. The punch turned Harding's knees to jelly. What followed was a series of Tarver left hands that crashed into Harding's unprotected face. Three such blows sent him down the canvas, although referee Bill Paige somehow ruled the downing a slip. When Harding arose, he walked into more punishment, including six consecutive Tarver left hand home run swings, each of which pounded Harding an inch closer to the canvas, which he eventually collapsed to. Paige looked certain to stop the fight, but the round was over, and Harding made it back to his corner. Unfortunately, the one-minute rest did nothing to heal his dead legs. 20 seconds into the fifth, three more unopposed Tarver lefts sent Harding down again. Paige again began a count as Tarver yelled at him to stop the fight. Completing his count, Paige asked Harding "Are you okay?" Harding answered "Me? I'm from Philadelphia." Perhaps Harding was protesting that as a veteran of Philly gym wars, he was used to this type of punishment. More likely, he didn't know where he was and was answering a question that wasn't asked. Paige somehow accepted the answer, and a reluctant Tarver smashed Harding with two more left hands before he finally collapsed to the canvas in a manner that suggested he wouldn't be getting up any time soon. Tarver KO5. Tarver (now 20-1/17) retains his #1 ranking, making him an eventual mandatory challenger to Roy Jones. Despite the thrilling kayo, don't expect Jones-Tarver to be any better than any of Roy's other fights. If Tarver is a deer-in-the-headlights against Jones for half as long as he was against Harding, then he'll be toast. .....Chris Bushnell (Please send comments to us at: BoxingChronicle@aol.com) SEE ALSO: JANUARY 26, 2002: MOSLEY vs. FORREST I