GL: Boxingtalk recently broke the news of your December 1 return to the ring against Michele Piccirillo. Can you give us some thoughts on making your Showtime debut? "There's a couple of firsts for me actually. This is the first time I'm fighting at Foxwoods. This is the first time I'm fighting on Showtime. I never thought I would get the opportunity to fight on Showtime based on my relationship with HBO. I'm looking forward to a great fight on December 1 and I'm expecting to put on another spectacular performance."

GL: What do you know about Piccrillo as a fighter?

Vernon Forrest: "He's a good fighter. I remember him from the amatuers. He was a good fighter then and he's a good fighter now. He's a former world champion and he's got some nice moves so I'm looking forward to him bringing his A game because I'm definitely bringing mine."

GL: He's your mandatory challenger and I'm sure he wouldn't have been the first person you would have chosen to fight, but you want to keep your belt so you have to get him out of the way. If you successfully make the mandatory defense who do you want to fight to make something big happen with at junior middleweight?

VF: "First you have to get past what's in front of you. I'm one of those guys who learned his lesson to not look past anybody. I'm just going to worry about Piccirillo for now, but once I take care of that business you can ask me that question again."

GL: Have you studied Piccirillo on film?

VF: "I haven't seen his fight with Spinks or his fight with Mayorga. But I have seen a few other fights that they sent me, but I'm going to have to get those fights. A lot of times guys send you fights they want you to see instead of the fights you need to see. Right now I feel that I'm getting my mojo back. All of my stuff is clicking on all cylinders. When I'm clicking on all cylinders I'm the best fighter out there."

GL: Who will fight last on December 1, you or Antonio Tarver?

VF: "I have no idea, but I would think that I'm the WBC champion. I don't know if Tarver has a belt, but whoever has the bigger belt or the bigger name that's who'll be the last fight. I have no idea, but I really don't care because as long as my pay is the same I could care less."

GL: You're going to making your Showtime debut one week after Vargas and Mayorga fight on PPV. Does the winner of that fight interest you?

VF: "Absolutely. I'll take the winner or the loser it doesn't really matter. One of the things people were wondering about what my next move is going to be, but right now all of the top guys are fighting each other. After the guys fight in November and the guys fight in December, everybody will be available for the early part of next year, so there's definitely going to be big fights out there that I want all big fights out there that can be made. So after December 1 when I'm successfull and those other guys are successfull, we're going to have some big fight to discuss next year."

GL: Do you think Miguel Cotto has a chance to beat Shane Mosley? What does he need to do in order to be successfull in that fight?

VF: "Cotto is a tremendous fighter. Right now Shane got his mojo back and he's on top of his game right now. For Cotto to fight a guy like Mosley with the experience it's going to be rough, but he's going to have to be very aggressive, have a I don't give a F attitude and then he'll be successfull. He needs to have that kind of attitude and be ready to bully Shane to beat a guy of that caliber."

GL: Will you be training in Vero Beach for this fight?

VF: "I'll be out there training for this and I'm looking forward to going back down and putting a lot good work in like I did last time and having good results."

GL: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

VF: "December 1 is going to be an exciting night of boxing. I just hope the fans appreciate two world class fighters like myself and Antonio Tarver being on the same show. We're looking to put on a spectacular performance and then expect big things from Vernon Forrest in 2008."

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