BoxingScene.com has received confirmation that rumors of a possible clash between WBC junior middleweight champion Vernon Forrest and Arthur Abraham, the IBF middleweight champion - are indeed true. Sauerland Event, who promote Abraham, have reached out to Gary Shaw to make the fight happen. If the fight can be finalized, it would happen in the summer on Showtime. Abraham would travel to America for the fight.

Forrest looked very impressive in his last fight with Sergio Mora. Weight issues are creeping up on King Arthur and I believe that his performances are starting to suffer. I'm giving him at least two fights before he moves up to super middleweight.

There is almost a sense of boxing irony here. Both Forrest and Abraham were trying to secure a summer date with WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. Neither was successful. Instead they are willing to fight each other and Pavlik will likely face Mora, who Forrest dominated last September. The winner of Abraham-Forrest would really push the envelope on being the next logical opponent for Pavlik.

If the deal is finalized, I'm not exactly sure how it affects Forrest's title defense against interim-champion Sergio Martinez. The two sides reached an agreement last week, and under that agreement both fighters were given the option of taking one fight [before actually fighting each other]. From what I know, Forrest's "pre-Martinez fight" would have to take place before the end of April, and per the agreement it had to be a ten-round contest. If the Abraham fight gets made, I believe that Forrest would be forced to give up the WBC title and Martinez would become the full champion.