Boxing | Forrest fights his way to WBC title

TACOMA -- Vernon Forrest could have danced all night, but he stopped and delivered heavy blows with both hands during a victory by unanimous decision over Carlos Baldomir for the World Boxing Council super-welterweight championship Saturday night at the Emerald Queen Casino.

Forrest ignored the advice of trainer Buddy McGirt to keep his distance and instead traded blows with Baldomir several times during the fight, most of the time getting the better of it to win the WBC's 154-pound title.

Two judges had Forrest winning 118-109, and the other had the left-hander from Augusta, Ga., taking a 116-111 decision.

"He caught me with some good shots, but he never hurt me," Forrest said. "He's not a hard puncher, but he's a strong puncher. I loaded up more than I was supposed to and more than we worked on, but I had to establish some kind of respect because he wouldn't stop coming."

Baldomir appeared frustrated at having to continually chase Forrest around the ring, but he never stopped charging forward and landed some good right hands.

"I brought the fight to him and I pressed the fight all night," Baldomir said through a translator. "I thought I fought a really good fight."

The 36-year-old Baldomir fell to 43-11-6 and admitted it might have been his last fight.

"I'm going to have to go home to Argentina to think about it," he said.

Forrest (39-2) said winning a title was even better the second time around. He lost his world welterweight title in 2003 to Ricardo Mayorga.

"This is very, very sweet," Forrest said. "I have to pat myself on the back for this one. Carlos pushed me to the limit. He kept coming and never stopped.

"I always seem to fight to the level of my competition; tonight I brought my 'A' game and I needed it."

Forrest continually circled to his right and used a stiff left jab and a hard overhand right to fend off Baldomir, who, at 5 feet 7, gave up 5 inches in height and 6 inches in reach.

"I need to go home and rest," Forrest said. "I've only been the champ for five minutes, but I need to keep fighting."

In a hard-hitting WBC flyweight-elimination bout between 115-pounders, veteran Hector Velazquez scored a unanimous technical decision over Mario Santiago.

The fight was stopped in the 10th round after an accidental head butt left Velazquez bleeding severely above his left eye.

Although the cut was originally caused by a head butt in the fourth round, Santiago, who seemed to be coming on after a slow start, repeatedly peppered it with jabs. Another accidental head butt in the 10th round ended the fight.

The judges' scorecards gave the decision to Velazquez 98-93, 98-92 and 98-92.

The loss dropped Santiago, who hails from Ponce, Puerto Rico, to 18-1 and improved Velazquez, from Tijuana, Mexico, to 47-11-2.

Velazquez won the first three rounds with an aggressive, relentless style. Santiago was able to score some hard punches in the middle rounds before Velazquez regained control.