Just when you thought it was safe to run to the betting windows and bet your wad on a "sure" favorite, the second major fight of 2002 stuns and shocks the great majority of already spooked boxing fans.

The streak ranks up there with the curse of the favorites in the Kentucky Derby, the most prestigious jewel of the Triple Crown of horse racing. It reeks of Saratoga Springs, another distinguished race track known as the graveyard of favorites.

What are boxing fans to do? Rejoice, I say, REJOICE! Rejoice in knowing that the sport is not "fixed" as the cynics would have us believe. Rejoice in knowing that champions are not infallible and/or protected. Rejoice in knowing that two-fisted thunder can bring down the house and those who supposedly rule it.

Hats off to Vernon Forrest for proving that unheralded and underestimated challengers can prevail. Hats off to Shane Mosley for being a man in defeat.

Don't you just love boxing? I know I do!