Former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield was one of hundreds on hand in suburban Atlanta on Monday afternoon for the funeral of slain boxer Vernon Forrest.
Former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield was one of hundreds on hand in suburban Atlanta on Monday afternoon for the funeral of slain boxer Vernon Forrest.
Forrest, 38, died on July 25 after being shot several times as he was being robbed at an Atlanta gas station.
Other boxing champs past and present on hand at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., included Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley and Antonio Tarver.
Forrest was remembered during the service as a talented athlete who was a fighter for just causes outside of the ring.
He worked extensively with Destiny’s Child group homes in Atlanta, which provide care for the mentally disabled.
Forrest was also among a number of people who lobbied the U.S. Congress for a posthumous pardon for Jack Johnson. The first black heavyweight champion was one of the few ever imprisoned under the Mann Act ? he spent a year in jail from 1920-21 ? which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for immoral purposes. The U.S. House and the Senate have both approved a resolution urging a pardon.
Police have not named any suspects in connection with the fatal shooting of Forrest.
Surveillance video near the scene of the homicide has been released to the public, and the case was featured on America’s Most Wanted on Saturday. Police said they were encouraged by the tips that have come in as a result.
A native of Augusta, Ga., Forrest was a teammate with De La Hoya on the United States boxing squad at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Forrest was the third boxing champion to die violently in July.
Former three-division champion Alexis Arguello, 57, died July 1 in Managua. Arguello, who had recently been elected mayor of the Nicaraguan capital, was reported to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Arturo Gatti, who learned to box in Montreal, was found dead July 11 in Brazil. An autopsy in the South American country concluded the death was a suicide, but Gatti’s family and others in the boxing community believe he was the victim of foul play.
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