posted June 3, 2008 at 15:38 EST in Other Articles

BetUS Sportsbook boxing betting faithful will turn their attention on Saturday night to the Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort in Connecticut, where Vernon Forrest once again defends his WBC super welterweight championship as he faces Sergio Mora, a former winner of the reality show "The Contender." Forrest's defense will be televised by Showtime in the United States, and is backed up by a WBO welterweight title rematch between Paul Williams and Carlos Santana, which we will explore later in the week.

BetUS boxing betting odds:

WBC Super Welterweight (154-lb.) title

June 7 -- Uncasville, CT

VERNON FORREST -550

SERGIO MORA +400

Over 10.5 Rounds -175

Under 10.5 Rounds +135

For sports betting purposes, let's size up the contestants:

FORREST (40-2, 29 KO's), the -550 boxing betting favorite in the BetUS online betting odds, last fought in December when he defended his WBC 154-pound championship for the first time with an eleventh-round TKO over Michele Piccirillo. That was the first defense of the belt he won in July of '07 against Carlos Baldomir. Forrest is also a former WBC welterweight champ.

Before that he was a celebrated amateur, winning the 1991 U.S. amateur champion at 139 pounds and finishing second in the world championships, losing to Kostya Tszyu in the finals. The next year Forrest beat Shane Mosley in the Olympic Trials and represented the U.S. team in Barcelona, though he was eliminated in the opening round of competition.

In terms of accomplishments as a professional, Forrest scored a win over Raul Frank in May 2001 to win the IBF welterweight title, but by far his two signature victories came against the aforementioned Mosley in 2002, first winning the WBC welterweight title belt, then scoring a clear decision win in his one and only successful defense. But Forrest appeared to bite off more than he could chew against the unorthodox Ricardo Mayorga, who took him out in three rounds (January 2003), then followed that with a majority decision six months later. Forrest sat out a couple of years after that, then came back with a few wins, before dominating Baldomir to win the title he currently still holds.

MORA (20-0-1, 5 KO's), the +400 underdog at BetUS, is reasonably talented but is not very accomplished as a professional. Many of his early bouts took place in Orange County, and one of his better results was a decision over previously undefeated Les Ralston in Chicago four years ago. After that he entered "The Contender," an NBC reality show that aired in 2005. He beat Ishe Smith, Jesse Brinkley and Peter Manfredo to win that title. Outside of that, Mora scored a ten-round decision over fringe contender Eric Regan (Regan also held him to a draw) and stopped opponent-type Rito Ruvalcaba in six rounds last time out, which was January 11.

One key here is that Mora does not hit hard enough to really get Forrest's attention. When he fought others, including Mayorga, Forrest became much more tentative when the opponent proved to be dangerous. When the opponent looks harmless, he is bolder, but that doesn't necessarily mean he is going to score a knockout; indeed, he has not knocked out a lot of world-class fighters - perhaps Santiago Samaniego and Piccirillo fit into that category. Perhaps.

So is Mora a world-class fighter? Well, he might be, but he lies on the fringes, at best. The question might be what kind of fight this settles into. Mora might come out, realize he is outclassed, and decide it is a bonus to go the distance. In fights like that, Forrest has had a tendency to use his boxing skills to score points and is content to let things go the route. That's why I really wouldn't trust an over/under play here; you just don't know whether Mora is going to fold up if he is overwhelmed, or whether Forrest is going to back off and play safety-first.

One thing I am reasonably sure of is that this is too big a step up in class for Mora, even against an aging (37) fighter. Forrest doesn't really have a lot of wear and tear on him, so he's relatively well-preserved. And the time off he took a few years ago seems to have done him some good. I don't know whether this goes the distance or not, but Forrest is much the better fighter, so even though this isn't too exciting, I have to lay the -550 in the BetUS boxing betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: FORREST TO WIN (-550) ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

Betting on boxing has never been so easy and you can get your bets in now in the BetUS sportsbook. Go to Other Sports: Boxing. Find tons of props on the fight and the fighters in the Future / props section as well!

(Charles Jay of www.ebookies.com is a former manager, matchmaker and color commentator in professional boxing. He currently pulls no punches in the BetUS Locker Room)