HBO’s late-night boxing series heats up with an exciting junior middleweight bout when HBO BOXING AFTER DARK:  VERNON FORREST VS. CARLOS BALDOMIR is presented SATURDAY, JULY 28 at 10:15 p.m. (ET/PT) from the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash., exclusively on HBO.  The HBO Sports team will be ringside for the event, which will be available in HDTV, as well as closed-captioned for the hearing impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

            In a battle of former welterweight champions, Atlanta’s Vernon Forrest (38-2, 28 KOs) takes on Carlos Baldomir (43-10-6, 13 KOs) of Santa Fe, Argentina in a scheduled 12-round title event.  Forrest has been on a winning streak since returning to the ring after a two-year absence.  He’s been defeated by only one man – Ricardo Mayorga – in his last 15 years as a professional, and hopes to reestablish himself as a title contender in this highly competitive division.

            Forrest’s opponent in this 154-pound showdown is Carlos Baldomir, a former 147-pound titleholder who returns to the ring after three consecutive marquee matchups, which produced two wins (over Zab Judah and Arturo Gatti) and one loss (to Floyd Mayweather).  The always aggressive Baldomir suffered his first loss in eight years when Mayweather snapped his winning streak in Las Vegas last November.

            In addition, HBO will replay the Bernard Hopkins-Winky Wright light heavyweight fight to start off the broadcast.  Hopkins scored a 12- round unanimous decision last Saturday night in Las Vegas.