Vernon Forrest shot to death

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Former champion Forrest shot to death


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By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
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Rafael Reacts To The Death Of Forrest

ESPN.com's Dan Rafael on the life and death of former world champion Vernon Forrest
Tags: Boxing

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  ESPN.com's Dan Rafael on the life and death of former world champion Vernon Forrest
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Former two-division world champion Vernon Forrest was shot and killed Saturday night during an attempted robbery, police said Sunday.
Fulton County medical examiner Michele Stauffenberg confirmed the case was a homicide and that the autopsy showed Forrest died from "multiple gunshot wounds involving the torso and thigh." Sgt. Lisa Keyes said a police report on the shooting was not immediately available.
WSB Radio in Atlanta first reported the shooting, citing a police spokesman. Forrest, who was 38, lived in Atlanta and was an Augusta, Ga., native.
Lt. Keith Meadows told the radio station that Forrest was shot seven or eight times -- at least once in the head -- as he chased at least two men who had tried to steal his Jaguar as he put air in its tires at an Atlanta gas station. Forrest had a gun and confronted the men, who fatally wounded him with two semi-automatic weapons, according to police.
[+] EnlargeDavid Livingston/Getty ImagesVernon Forrest, a recent WBC junior middleweight champion, was killed Saturday as he chased at least two men who had tried to steal his car, police said.


"At this point we have a general description of at least two black males driving a red Monte Carlo," Meadows said, according to the report.
Keyes said that there are no official suspects at this time.
Promoter Gary Shaw, who had two stints as Forrest's promoter said, "It's 100 percent confirmed. He's dead. I will say this about him -- he was a decent human being. His work with kids, I think people knew how much he cared for kids, underprivileged and mentally challenged people. He was a real decent human being outside the ropes."
Police said the suspects likely didn't know Forrest, whose girlfriend's young son was in the car when he was shot.
"What can you say? Alexis Arguello, Arturo Gatti and Vernon Forrest all leaving us within 30 days? I think it's a little much for our sport to handle," Shaw said, referring to the recent high-profile deaths of two other boxing stars. "The violence, the guns have to go. Violence belongs inside the ropes. Not outside them. It's just senseless. Maybe boxing ought to dedicate itself to keeping the violence inside the ropes and try to send that message out to the world."
Gatti, a former two-time champion who retired in 2007, was found dead July 11 at a Brazilian resort. Gatti's wife, Amanda Rodrigues, is being held as the prime suspect.
Arguello, another former champion, was found dead on July 1 at his home in Managua, Nicaragua. He was elected mayor of Nicaragua's capital last year.
Forrest's trainer, Buddy McGirt, also worked with Gatti. McGirt said Forrest planned to start training Aug. 1 for his next fight.
"I just feel so bad, he has a son you know," McGirt said. "Someone is going to be raised without a father because somebody wanted to rob someone."
Manager Al Haymon was too broken up to talk about Forrest, the first fighter he signed to what would become an all-star stable.

Mulvaney: Boxing Loses Good One

Friends and fellow fighters remembered Vernon Forrest, a man who set himself apart, Kieran Mulvaney writes. Story


"He was one of the most gracious and charitable fighters in boxing and he will be missed by the entire boxing community and all of his friends at HBO," HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg told The Associated Press.
Greenburg helped in the production of eight of Forrest's fights.
"Maybe Vernon's lasting legacy will be for Americans everywhere to rise up and end this kind of senseless violence," Greenburg said.
Forrest (41-3, 29 KOs), a 1992 U.S. Olympian, was a former two-time welterweight and two-time junior middleweight champion best known for his two decision victories against Shane Mosley in 2002.
Forrest had beaten Mosley to keep him off the 1992 Olympic team but when they met in January 2002 in New York, it was Mosley, then widely regarded as the pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in boxing, who was a significant favorite.
Instead, Forrest knocked Mosley down and dominated the fight to hand him his first pro loss and win the WBC welterweight title. Forrest outpointed him in a closer fight in the July 2002 rematch in Indianapolis.
Forrest won the vacant IBF welterweight title in May 2001 with a lopsided decision against Raul Frank in New York. It was a rematch because their first bout ended in a three-round no contest nine months earlier. Forrest never defended that belt, instead vacating in order to facilitate the big-money first fight with Mosley.
Forrest was also known for his charitable side because of his involvement in Destiny's Child, a group home that provides support and guidance for mentally challenged adults. Forrest had often talked about how the struggles of people he helped support provided him with inspiration when he fought.
"It was truly his calling," Forrest's publicist, Kelly Swanson, said of his work with children. "When he wasn't boxing, this was his full-time job.

“ He was ready to come back and we were discussing fights for Vernon. ... I thought he still had a career in front of him.
” -- Promoter Gary Shaw

After signing a multimillion dollar contract with HBO after the wins against Mosley, Forrest was stunningly upset in the first fight of the new deal when Ricardo Mayorga knocked him out in the third round in January 2003 in Temecula, Calif. In the rematch that July in Las Vegas, Mayorga won a majority decision to retain the title.
Forrest entered the rematch with Mayorga with nagging shoulder and elbow injuries, which required surgery and forced him into a two-year layoff after the bout.
Forrest returned in July 2005 and knocked out Elco Garcia; he was still troubled by his left arm, but continued to fight. After another one-year layoff, Forrest won a controversial decision against former welterweight titlist Ike Quartey in August 2006 before another 11-month layoff.
Forrest came back again in July 2007 and easily outpointed former welterweight champ Carlos Baldomir to win the vacant WBC junior middleweight title.
After knocking out Michele Piccirillo in the 11th round of his first defense in December 2007, Forrest was upset by former "Contender" reality series winner Sergio Mora via majority decision in June 2008.
But Forrest reclaimed the title Sept. 13 in Las Vegas by dominating Mora in the rematch in what turned out to be Forrest's final fight.
Ken Hershman, vice president in charge of boxing at Showtime, which aired Forrest's first fight with Mora, said Forrest was a popular fighter who was dedicated to his charity work.
"He wasn't looking for anything, he just did it because it was the right thing to do," Hershman said.
"Vernon was a young, vibrant guy coming to the end of his career. He still had a lot of life ahead of him."
Forrest had been scheduled to defend against mandatory challenger Sergio Martinez on Aug. 1, but suffered a rib injury training for an April tune-up fight with Jason LeHoullier and withdrew from both matches.
With the mandatory defense long overdue against Martinez, Forrest was stripped of his title. But, according to Shaw, he was not quite finished.
"He was ready to come back and we were discussing fights for Vernon," said Shaw, who first promoted Forrest when the two were with Main Events in the early part of the decade. "I had told Al Haymon recently I would love to make a fight between Vernon and [middleweight champion] Kelly Pavlik. I thought he still had a career in front of him."
Dan Rafael is a senior boxing writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[doc mercer]

Ya never know when your "date with destiny" will arrive

[Dirty]

He was always one of my Faves.... I always thought he got blackballed in the boxing world by not playing the Don King and Bob Arum Game and could have been a great fighter

[doc mercer]

Don King ... what a wonderful guy

always has his fighters at the top of his concern list

Just a fine gentleman .....

Caring ....

a True Role Model ...


He would make a great Moderator

[Dirty]

Atlanta News 1:30 p.m. Sunday, July 26, 2009

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Police: Killer shot boxer Vernon Forrest in back

Champion fighter chased robber, was then fatally shot seven to eight times


By STEVE HUMMER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Those who knew him best knew that Vernon Forrest was plugged into the world outside his own little corner of boxing.
Enlarge photo

Reuters Former WBC welterweight champion Vernon Forrest.

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He was a curious, outspoken, engaging man who “always was talking about current events,” said Forrest’s long-time manager and friend, Charles Watson.
Lately, Watson said, that meant often discussing the recent murders of Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair and former boxing champion Arturo Gatti.
Saturday night, Atlanta’s Forrest himself became yet another well-known athlete to die violently in July.
Gunned down and robbed in southwest Atlanta on Saturday night, the 38-year-old Forrest left behind a 12-year-old son, Vernon Jr., a cache of three major boxing titles and a legacy of charitable works in a sport not known for its good citizenship.
“Everybody is in shock, everybody who knows Vernon or knows about him,” said Ronnie Shields, the Houston-based trainer who guided Forrest through his most memorable victories, a pair of 2002 decisions over Shane Mosley. “He was always a good guy, never did anything to anybody, was respected in the boxing community. This is tough for people to take because of who Vernon was.”
According to Atlanta Police Detective Lt. Keith Meadows, Forrest had stopped at a gas station on Whitehall Street around 11 p.m. Saturday night. With him was his 11-year-old godson, visiting from Texas.
As the boy went inside to use the bathroom and buy snacks, Forrest went to the rear of his Jaguar to add air to a low tire. It was then when a male suspect robbed him at gunpoint and fled.
Forrest, reportedly armed, chased after the man a short distance, to an area near Daniel and Fulton streets. Shots were exchanged, police said. Giving up the chase, and turning to return to the gas station, Forrest was shot seven to eight times in the back, according to police.
Police say the shooter and a second suspect left in a red Monte Carlo.
“Vernon always was the type of guy who wasn’t going to let anybody take anything from him,” Watson said. “He would give you the shirt off his back, but if you tried to take something from him, he was going to fight you for it.”
Atlanta’s other boxing champion, Evander Holyfield, recalled a story from the 1992 Olympics. When a thief snatched the cap from atop his head, Forrest ran after him through the streets of Barcelona. “Chased him about a half a mile. Got his hat back. And got in a few punches too,” said Holyfield, chuckling at the memory from another place, another time.
Born in Augusta, Forrest lost in the first round of those ’92 Games while suffering from a case of food poisoning. That set the stage for a career that often was a difficult climb.
Refusing to let himself be tied to any one promoter — “He was his own man,” said Holyfield — Forrest initially was denied a shot at a significant championship.
Finally, at the age of 31, Forrest got his breakthrough opportunity against Mosley. With the quickness that earned him the nickname “The Viper,” Forrest dispatched the unbeaten 147-pound champ and then won the rematch later that year. He was Ring Magazine’s fighter of the year in 2002.
An award not often mentioned is one that came in 2003. That one was for his work in starting Destiny’s Child, a business that houses mentally challenged young adults, as well as for his gregarious personality. Forrest remains the only active fighter to have ever won the Boxing Writers’ Good Guy Award.
Forrest, 41-3 with 29 KOs, suffered his first two professional losses to Ricardo Mayorga in 2003, and then took two years off while recovering from a series of shoulder and elbow surgeries. He won back a share of the 154-pound title in 2007, lost it, then reclaimed it last year against a fighter (Sergio Mora) 10 years his junior.
“What a lot of people don’t know is all the pain he was going through with his shoulder,” Shields said. “For him to be champion of the world showed you what kind of heart he had.” Forrest had hoped to continue fighting at least another year, and get back the WBC title of which he was stripped while recovering from a rib injury this year.
Instead, there are only the empty, what-might-have-yet-been sentiments that surface whenever an athlete dies young.
“He had another big fight in him,” Shields said.
-- Staff writers Katie Leslie, Marcus Garner, Jeff Schultz, Alyse Knorr and the Associated Press contributed to this report.





Pro boxer Vernon Forrest fatally shot in Atlanta *| ajc.com

[doc mercer]

Noooo

no violence in America is there?

[Dirty]

Cops have surveillance video of man who robbed Forrest


By MARCUS GARNER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


Atlanta police on Thursday released surveillance video of at least one suspect in the shooting death of boxing great Vernon Forrest.
Enlarge photo

This frame grab from a video released by the Atlanta Police Department on Thursday, July 30, 2009 shows a suspect in the robbery of former boxing champion Vernon Forrest. Forrest was gunned down following the robbery Saturday, July 25, 2009 at an Atlanta gas station. (AP Photo/Atlanta Police Department)

Enlarge photo

John Froschauer/AP In this July 26, 2007 file photo, boxer Vernon Forrest smiles as he answers questions during a news conference in Tacoma, Wash. Forrest was robbed and shot "multiple times in the back" in Atlanta.

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The video is from security cameras at the Whitehall Street gas station where Forrest was robbed and a nearby apartment complex.
“The images are good enough to get a mug shot of the robber,” Detective Lt. Keith Meadows said of footage showing an armed man in jeans and a black T-shirt.
Police are looking for three to four men in connection with the Saturday night killing of the 38-year-old boxer.
“We believe that the person that robbed Mr. Forrest and the one who actually murdered him is not the same person,” Meadows said.
One man robbed Forrest at gunpoint, taking his diamond and gold “4X World Champion” ring and a Rolex watch, police said. Forrest pulled a gun from his waist and went after the robber, police said.
A second man shot Forrest multiple times in the back after he chased the robber, police said. And at least one other man was in a red Pontiac Grand Prix that later retrieved the robber and the shooter, police said.
“Security footage actually picks up the [robbery] suspect, but Mr. Forrest actually loses sight of the subject,” Meadows said.
Investigators used time stamps from video recorded at the 505 Fulton Street apartment building and the Whitehall Street convenience store to compile a timeline of events, Meadows said.
Footage from the gas station shows the Pontiac pull into the station, and the man police say was the robber get out.
Video from the apartment complex showed the same man enter a breezeway, carrying a silver handgun, just after police said Forrest had given chase.
“At that point Mr. Forrest comes around the corner, and he encounters another individual we believe has a gun in his hand,” Meadows said, citing witness accounts. “Mr. Forrest and this individual exchange words, and he realizes this is not the individual that actually robbed him ... Mr. Forrest turns and walks away.”
The armed man shot Forrest seven or eight times, police said.
The apartment footage later showed the robber waiting in the breezeway and talking on his cell phone before being picked up by the Pontiac.
The car then drove south on McDaniel Street, Meadows said.
The Atlanta Police Department is asking anyone with information on this incident to call investigators at 404-577-TIPS (8477).



Cops have surveillance video of man who robbed Forrest*| ajc.com

[Dirty]

Man charged in Vernon Forrest killing

Accused in boxer's death turned himself in


By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Atlanta Police have arrested a suspect in the shooting death of boxer Vernon Forrest.
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Fulton County Sheriff's Office Damario Ware, 20, surrendered to police Tuesday in connection with the slaying of former boxing champion Vernon Forrest. This photo was taken March 28, 2009.

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AJC Former world welterweight boxing champ Vernon Forrest was killed during an attempted robbery in Atlanta.

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Damario Ware, 20, has been charged with murder, aggravated assault and armed robbery.
Ware turned himself in to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, police spokesman Officer James Polite said.
Forrest was killed on the night of July 26 when he chased an armed robber from a convenience store on Whitehall Street in southwest Atlanta.
The robber took Forrest’s gold and diamond “4X World Champion” ring and a Rolex watch, then the 38-year-old boxer pulled a gun on the robber, police said.
Police believe Forrest lost sight of the robber and encountered a different armed man. The two exchanged words and Forrest turned to walk away, realizing he had confronted the wrong man, police said.
The man shot Forrest seven or eight times in the back, police said.
Ware, is one of as many as four individuals police were seeking.
He was on bond for a March arrest in which he had been charged with obstruction of a police officer and several counts of criminal trespassing and entering an auto, jail officials said.
Ware is being held at the Fulton County Jail, and will have his first court appearance Wednesday morning.
Police continue to investigate.



Man charged in Vernon Forrest killing*| ajc.com

[Dirty]

2nd suspect held in Vernon Forrest shooting


By Marcus K. Garner and Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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A second man was arrested Wednesday in the murder of boxer Vernon Forrest.
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Marcus K. Garner, mgarner@ajc.com quante Crews, 25, is escorted from the Atlanta Police Depatment headquarters to be taken to the Fulton County jail.

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Jquante Crews, 25, was arrested at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday at the home of his brother on Jones Circle in College Park, Atlanta police said.
He is being charged with murder, felony murder, possession of a firearm by a felon in commission of a crime, aggravated assault and armed robbery.
Crews, a resident of Dallas is not believed to be the person who shot and killed Forrest, police said. He was the driver of the Pontiac Grand Prix used as the get-a-way car by a group of men who robbed Forrest July 26 before he was killed, police said.
Crews quickly denied involvement in the crime as he was being walked to a police van transporting him to Fulton County jail.
“Innocent,” he yelled at nearby reporters. “Believe that.”
The arrest of Crews was the second police have made in as many days in the Forrest case. Damario Ware, 20, was arrested Tuesday night after surrendering to the Fulton County District Attorney. He made his first court appearance Wednesday morning.
Neither Ware nor Crews shot Forrest, police said. But one of them knows the shooter and had an encounter with him after Forrest was shot.
The shooter, unnamed, is still at large.
Ware’s grandmother cried as he made his first court appearance wearing a jail jumpsuit and handcuffs on Wednesday.
“I taught him right from wrong,” Rose Thomas said outside the Fulton County Jail Wednesday after Ware’s initial court appearance lasting less than a minute, the time it took a magistrate to read him his rights.
Thomas, who raised Ware, sat alone on one of the two benches set aside for the public in the courtroom at the jail. With tears rolling down her cheeks, she cried into her hands.
Forrest was robbed in a southwest Atlanta convenience store parking lot early on July 26.
Ware, whose image of him confronting the boxer was captured on surveillance video, surrendered to police Tuesday. Ware is charged with murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault and two gun offenses.
Lt. Keith Meadows, who heads the Atlanta Police Department’s homicide unit, said Wednesday, “we are following other leads and I expect there will be more arrests soon.”
He declined to be specific.
Wednesday morning, Charles Watson, Forrest’s friend and manager and the spokesman for the boxer’s family, was angry about the direction he saw the case going.
“Right now they are probably trying to cut a deal with this guy [Ware] to get the shooter,” Watson said. “We don’t want a deal. We want justice. All of them should be convicted for the crime for murder.”
He said Ware should not get any special treatment because he “started the whole chain reaction with the robbery.”
The grandmother and Ware’s uncle, Frederick Waters, said a threatening call came to the Thomas house; they believe it was intended to frighten Ware about possible danger to his family should he be thinking about helping police.
According to Thomas, the caller Wednesday morning warned “don’t go to a service station late at night” and also said someone was going to “shoot up my house.”
The 38-year-old former world welterweight boxing champion was putting air in a rear tire on his Jaguar when Ware allegedly approached him. Forrest’s godson was inside the story, buying snacks.
Police said Forrest, armed, chased the robber down Whitehall Street, but lost sight of the man. As he was walking back, however, he encountered another armed man, and the two exchanged words.
Realizing he had confronted the wrong man, police said, Forrest turned to walk away. He was shot in the back seven or eight times.
Forrest’s gold and diamond “4X World Champion” ring and a Rolex watch were taken and have not been recovered.
“He wasn’t raised to do the things he done,” the grandmother said. “I pray to God to guide him. He’s grown now so it’s out of my hands. I’m so sorry. I hurt for the Forrest family.”
Waters, Ware’s uncle, added as he helped his mother into a mini van, “our prayers go out to his family.”





2nd suspect held in Vernon Forrest shooting*| ajc.com

[Dirty]

3 men face death penalty in boxer's slaying


By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced on Monday that he will seek the death penalty for all three men arrested in connection with the alleged murder of former boxing champion Vernon Forrest.
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Howard said he will seek the ultimate penalty for Charmon Sinkfield, 30, Jquante Crews, 25, and DeMario Ware, 20, in the July 25 robbery-shooting of the boxer at an Atlanta convenience store. Forrest died July 26.
“We want to say to people in general, Fulton County is not the place to do this type of thing,” Howard said. “We’re trying to hold criminals accountable.”
Sinkfield is the alleged trigger man, Ware allegedly robbed Forrest and Crews drove the get-a-way car, authorities said.
The three men, now in jail, will face a Fulton County grand jury Tuesday.





3 men face death penalty in boxer's slaying*| ajc.com