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Showtime Championship Boxing Features Championship Doubleheader

Casamayor (25-0, 15 KOs), of Guantanamo, Cuba, captured the WBA interim 130-pound title with a 12-round decision over Antonio Hernandez on June 19, 1999. The 1992 Olympic gold medalist successfully defended the interim crown Nov. 20, 1999, with a 12-round decision over David Santos. Casamayor, 30, rid himself of the interim tag when he captured the WBA world title with a fifth-round TKO over Jongkwon Baek on May 21, 2000. In his Showtime debut, Casamayor retained his crown with a fifth-round TKO over previously unbeaten Radford Beasley on Sept. 16, 2000. Casamayor rallied to knock out former world champion Roberto Garcia at 1:14 of the ninth round in his second defense Jan. 6, 2001, on Showtime. Casamayor was behind on two of the scorecards (77-74 and 76-74) and even on the other (76-76), prior to decking Garcia twice in the ninth. In his last outing, Casamayor defended his title for a third time with a lopsided 12-round decision over Edwin Santana May 5, 2001.

Morales (17-5, 4 KOs), of San Antonio, Texas, has won eight of his last nine starts. He captured the vacant NABA featherweight crown by stopping former World Boxing Union (WBU) champion Carlos Contreras at 2:32 of the 11th round in front of a national television audience on June 17. Morales turned pro at age 22 on March 8, 1997, and won his first five bouts via four-round decisions. The native Texan will be making only his fourth appearance outside of Texas.

Forbes (19-1, 5 KOs), of Las Vegas, Nev., will be making his first start since scoring an eighth-round round TKO over Brown to win the vacant IBF junior lightweight title on Dec. 3, 2000. The ringside physician stopped the contest at 2:38 of the eighth and ruled that Brown could not continue due to a punctured eardrum and a severe laceration inside of his ear. The slick, quick counter-puncher turned pro Dec. 6, 1996, and won his initial 14 starts. His only loss came on a majority 12-round decision to former world featherweight champion Alejandro ``Cobrita'' Gonzalez in a 12-round bout for the International Boxing Association (IBA) lightweight title on March 11, 2000. Forbes has defeated his last six opponents following the setback.

Brown (23-8, 11 KOs), of Atlantic City, N.J., was leading on the scorecards when his fight with Forbes was stopped. Brown has made a career of overcoming odds to battle his way toward a world title fight. The 33-year-old has fought gamely, but come up short against a series of outstanding opposition, including ``Sugar'' Shane Mosley, Diego Corrales and Angel Manfredy. The former United States Boxing Association (USBA) champion will be making his fourth IBF title fight appearance. Brown recorded a fourth-round TKO over Carlos Rocha in his lone 2001 appearance on April 28.

Showtime Championship Boxing's Steve Albert and former world champion Bobby Czyz will call the action from ringside. The executive producer of the Showtime telecast is Jay Larkin with Ray Smaltz producing and Bob Dunphy directing.

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