Dan Rafael blog: Serious talks underway for Pavlik-Williams and other tid bits

[CFH]

It's easy to say he was smart in hindsight, but at the time he left a shot at the undisputed middleweight title and a $1 million payday on the table with no assurances that a similar offer would ever present itself. Then he had that dreadful draw that by all rights should have ended any hopes he had of getting an important fight. He got lucky with the Forrest fight as far as I'm concerned (maybe not with his performance but definitely that it was offered).

It's not just smart in hindsight, it was smart at the time. Mora knew he had no way of winning that fight, he wasn't going to stop Taylor and he wasn't going to beat him convincingly enough that he could win a points decision in his backyard. He loses that fight and his career is effectively over or at least severely retarded. Was turning down 1 million dollars a gamble? Absolutely, but it was one that paid off and Mora made the right decision.

As for him getting lucky with the Forrest fight, perhaps. However, the Contender people have long shown a willingness to sell out their charges by throwing them in against champs and very good fighters looking for an easy victory. I'm sure Mora knew that.

It was dumb because Sergio was riding at the heighth of his popularity from the Contender and you have to strike while the iron is hot. He had no way of knowing if he would keep winning and remain popular enough to get another lucrative opportunity for a legit title. In fact, he had that draw against a nobody that I thought was a gift and should have been a loss, and that could have easily been the end of him. I think he got lucky with the Forrest fight, and although he won don't forget his payday was about half what he would have made against Taylor. Manfredo's loss to Calzaghe did not end his career, I doubt losing to Taylor would have hurt Mora too badly since no one thought he'd win anyway.

I disagree for the reasons I stated in my last reply, but you have a valid position as well. I also think he got a gift in that fight. No sense going round and round in circles with this though.

Manfredo's loss to Calzaghe didn't end his career, but it did set him back a ways. I actually think if he hadn't been kind of screwed over by Freddie Roach he could've held a title at 154/160. He showed serious improvement after working with Roach but seemed to almost instantly regress afterwards.