Two for one special. It might be the best deal in the Augusta region's long boxing history.

Two of the area's most celebrated boxers will share the same card and the same Showtime stage on Saturday night. From the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, Vernon Forrest will defend his WBC super welterweight title while Paul Williams tries to reclaim the WBO welterweight belt from the man who took it from him.

"Two world title fights," said George Peterson, Williams' trainer. "That's kind of unusual from the same area. It's going to be big, no doubt about that. You're going to enjoy what you see."

In what is likely to be the Aiken-bred boxer's last fight in the welterweight division, Williams will try to avenge a major championship upset in February to Carlos Quintana. Then in the main event, the Augusta-bred Forrest will try to stave off an upset bid by Sergio Mora, who won the boxing reality show The Contender in 2005.

It should be enough to inspire area boxing fans to subscribe to Showtime or make friends with someone who already does.

"People should watch because it is the best fight of the night," Forrest said last Thursday during a teleconference. "You have me, a world champion. You have Mora. By winning The Contender , he has millions of fans that have been following his career. You have a Quintana-Williams rematch. ... You've have four of the best fighters in the world fighting that night."

If the action inside the ring lives up to the rhetoric, it should be one helluva show. Forrest lit up the call, taking offense at suggestions from the Mora camp that an upset is in the offing.

"There won't be an upset next Saturday," Forrest said. "Trust me on that. You can forget about that."

The more Mora's people talked, the more engaged Forrest got. He described Mora's boxing style as "garbage," belittled his ticket to fame on the boxing reality show that he dubbed "The Pretenders" and promised to send the challenger out on a stretcher.

Mora's manager called the reigning champion "disrespectful." Forrest sees his motivation differently.

"I'm setting my legacy," he said. "Every fight is personal to me right now. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Those days are over. Nice guys always finish last."

Forrest recalled stepping into the ring with Mora in California in his first sparring match following the shoulder surgery that sidelined Forrest for two years.

"I beat him up with one arm," Forrest said. "I was lighting him up. As a matter of fact, I was laughing."

Mora wasn't laughing at the teleconference jabs.

"I have nothing but respect for Forrest," Mora said. "I can see by what he's saying he has no respect for me, which is cool. That's fine. ... Whether I'm real or not, a contender or pretender, I have to prove something on June 7."

Said Forrest: "Come and fight and I promise you they're going to take you out on a stretcher. I guarantee it."

For all he said, Forrest insists he's not underestimating Mora, putting in three months of serious preparations for his second title defense.

"When I take my time, condition my body and my mind right, then I don't have any problems," he said. "When I have a great camp, I have a great performance. I had a great camp this time so you'll see a great performance."

Peterson listened to Forrest and heard a champion eager to get in the ring.

"It's going to be interesting if Vernon brings that kind of fire," he said.

Peterson's own charge is much more low key about his WBO welterweight rematch with the only pro boxer who has ever beaten him. Williams exhibited none of the relentless traits that had made him "The Punisher" when Quintana claimed a unanimous decision four months ago.

But he promises a different result this time.

"I'm trying my best to make it a different story," Williams said. "Change the page, get my belt back and be two-time world champion."

Williams retreated to his roots with Peterson and prepped in the Washington, D.C. area instead of Puerto Rico. He faced more left-handed sparring in workouts that have taken on an air of secrecy.

"A little too close for comfort there," Peterson said of training again in Quintana's home island where all the gym walls have eyes.

"By giving them that information it's kind of like shooting yourself in the foot. So we had to refrain from that."

Williams says he never found his rhythm against the shorter Quintana last time, especially after a gruelling and protracted training camp. But not everybody is reading too much into the first loss of his career.

"Paul, sometimes you have a bad night," Forrest told him. "Sometimes Mickey Mantle had a bad night. Sometimes guys just have a bad night. That's just the way it goes."

Peterson agrees: "I've seen Tiger Woods down there in Augusta. I know you've noticed it a number of times. It's not every time that he is on point. It was just a night when Williams wasn't on point. There are times when you see Michael Jordan and any athlete have an off day. I can't understand why they continue to dwell on this Williams having a bad night."

That performance against Quintana raised questions about whether the 6-foot-1 Williams was struggling to make weight at 147 pounds.

"His actions Saturday will dictate where everything is if the weight was good, bad, or if it was a rhythm problem, or just a Quintana problem," said promoter Dan Goossen.

Peterson said the prevailing plan is to move up to 160-pound middleweight for Williams' next fight -- bypassing Forrest's current 154-pound class.

"It will be a new challenge for me, stepping up and going after a new title," Williams said. "It's fine with me because the bigger they are the harder they fall."

Before he faces that challenge, Williams wants to leave the division that made him a world champion on top.

"There's no doubt in my mind I'm going out with it," he said of the WBO title. "I've got no choice but to get it. I'm bringing everything I've got to the table and gonna leave it all in the ring. I'm getting my belt back."

Whatever happens, Saturday night certainly promises to be one of the most dynamic boxing moments for Augusta and Aiken boxing.

"They can relate to us because we're from the same area," Williams said. "It's like two homeboys fighting on the same card. So everybody's going to be tuned in to see us doing it big for Augusta and Carolina."