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06/08/2004 Archived Entry: "FORBES' BIG HITS MAKE FOR SHORT WORK"
FORBES' BIG HITS MAKE FOR SHORT WORK
In Oregon debut, Portland boxer shows new knockout power
By JASON VONDERSMITH
The Portland Tribune, Issue date: Tue, Jun 8, 2004
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Steve Forbes, Portland’s most unheralded world-class athlete, made his Oregon boxing debut Friday and quickly showed the locals why he could be champion again.
The Grant High graduate, not known to be the knockout kind, stopped his opponent at 1:59 of the second round at Chinook Winds Casino and Convention Center in Lincoln City.
“You don’t get paid by the hour,” Forbes quipped. Forbes made Arthur Cruz of Denver buckle over in pain from three vicious body shots. The third one led to the end of the fight. It was a display of Forbes’ newly found power, cultivated under new trainer Eric Bonilla. “Been getting more power by turning the waist,” says Forbes, the former International Boxing Federation junior lightweight champion who improved to 24-2 with seven knockouts. “Before, I was all arms, now it’s all weight — hitting twice as hard. “Anybody I’ve been hitting in the gym, I hurt them. I know I can punch now.”
Forbes, 27, had long wanted to fight in Oregon, and the Cruz fight came about suddenly. A scheduled fight in South Africa for Forbes fell apart about the same time as did a scheduled main event at Chinook Winds. Promoter Dan Goossen promptly signed Forbes for a junior welterweight bout, a 140-pound weight usually. Forbes signed to fight at 145, because of the short notice, and Cruz gave his OK after Forbes weighed in at 146. “I was in shape. I was just heavy,” Forbes says. “I was hanging out in the gym and eating whatever I wanted.”
Forbes lost his IBF title last August after failing to make weight.
Forbes, who is managed by his uncle, John Hart, expects to make his move to lightweight (135) and fight in late July. He would like to get two or three lightweight bouts — and win — and then challenge IBF lightweight champ Julio Diaz or another sanctioning body’s champion. Lavka Sim (World Boxing Association), Jose Luis Castillo (World Boxing Council) and Acelino Freitas (World Boxing Organization) are the possibilities. Hart says Forbes is a harder puncher at a heavier weight. “People told me I should have moved up (to lightweight) five years ago,” Forbes says. The IBF still ranks Forbes as the No. 4 junior lightweight (130). One of boxing’s top Web sites, fightnews.com, has Forbes 11th at 130. “We’ll knock out any 135-pounder,” promises Bonilla, who trained Forbes for three months in Florida recently. Hart says Forbes had been too inactive; the Cruz fight was only his fourth since the start of 2003. “He’ll be a champion within a year and a half … but we’ve got to keep him active,” Hart says. And it could come with Goossen’s help, as Forbes and the promoter have been talking about signing a contract for future fights. “Everybody knows I’m coming,” Forbes says of the lightweight division. Notes Forbes’ wife (Dinah), grandmother (the Rev. Mary Overstreet) and great-grandfather (John Hart Sr., 100) were among the throng of family members and friends attending the fight. Women’s welterweight Molly McConnell of Portland made her pro debut and beat Tracy Carlton of Compton, Calif., in a four-round bout by unanimous decision. “I was a little disappointed it wasn’t stopped early,” McConnell says. “In the second round I landed like eight uppercuts in a row, and she wasn’t fighting back. … I didn’t find my range to land my right hand, or it would have been over.” … McConnell’s manager, Jackie Kallen of “Against the Ropes” movie fame, wants McConnell to fight in July and August. “It’ll be hard because she’s really good and nobody wants to face her,” says Kallen, who figures McConnell will fight for a title by next year. “She’s got the ‘look,’ and she trains like a killer and fights like a guy,” Kallen says. Light heavyweight Marcus Pernell of Portland, the son of former great Ray Lampkin, recorded his second first-round knockout in two fights, stopping Raul Talamentes at 2:26 of the first round. “You’re going to hear a lot about me, guaranteed,” Pernell promises. Lampkin’s other son, Ray Jr., will compete in the Titan Games in Atlanta from June 18-20. Lampkin Jr. failed to make weight at the Olympic Trials and fell short of making the U.S. team. Ray Sr. says, “I want him to have more experience, and he’s getting it in a hurry,” before turning pro, probably in 2005. Portland junior middleweight Reggie Davis’ bout at Chinook Winds got canceled, after no opponent could be lined up. “It’s a downer because my people would have been here,” Davis says, “but (Goossen) respected it because I got half my purse.” Davis (11-2-6) had won three bouts in a row. … Jim Cassidy, recently terminated as executive director of the Oregon Boxing and Wrestling Commission, says the Oregon State Police cited lax enforcement of rules and administrative discrepancies as the reason for his firing. He says he has kept busy playing golf. … The next pro matches in Oregon might be at Chinook Winds in June 2005, unless the new boxing director can generate some business. Contact Jason Vondersmith at jvondersmith at portlandtribune.com .
