Shane Mosley has one of the most impressive résumés in all of boxing.
During an illustrious career that saw him win world titles in three different weight classes, Mosley duked it out with the best of the best.
Among the long list of future and current Hall of Famers that Mosley has shared the ring with are Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto.
The latter four in particular are noted as much for their punching power as they are for their world-class boxing ability.
However, when it came to naming the hardest hitter he had ever faced, Mosley went with the man who handed him the first defeat of his professional career, Vernon Forrest.
“Vernon Forrest. I’m not sure why; maybe it was just natural. He just hit the hardest,” Molsey told Ring Magazine.
When Mosely and Forrest met for the first time as pros in 2002, ‘Sugar Shane’ was the WBC welterweight champion and boasted an unblemished 38-0 record.
He opened up as a big favourite over Forrest, who hadn’t fought a truly elite fighter up to that point.
Forrest had briefly held the IBF welterweight strap but that stemmed from a win over the unheralded Raul Frank in a vacant title fight.
The expectation heading into the bout was that Mosley would be too much for Forrest.
However, ‘The Viper’ proved he was more than capable of hanging with the divisional elite by dropping Mosley twice en route to a one-sided unanimous decision win.
When they rematched six months later Mosley stayed on his feet for the full 12 rounds but the result remained the same.
Forrest would eventually lose the WBC welterweight title in 2003 when he was stopped in the third round by Ricardo Mayorga.
After losing the rematch on points, Forrest moved up to super welterweight and became a two-weight world champion in 2007 by defeating Carlos Manuel Baldomir for the WBC’s version of the 154lbs belt.
Forrest then lost and reclaimed the title in a pair of close encounters with Sergio Mora before his career was cut short by his tragic death.
In July 2009, Forrest was robbed at gunpoint at an Atlanta petrol station.
Forrest, who was also armed, went after the man and shots were exchanged.
The boxer eventually gave up the chase and began talking to a second man, who turned and shot him in the back seven to eight times.
Forrest died at the scene while his murderer was seen fleeing the petrol station in a red sports car with the robber and a third man.
25-year-old Jquante Crews, 20-year-old Demario Ware and 30-year-old Charman Sinkfield were charged with his murder.
Sinkfield was identified as the shooter, Ware the robber, and Crews the driver. All three are now serving life in prison.
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