Reliant Arena, Houston TX – Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. 44-0-1 (31KOs) retained his WBC Middleweight ''regular'' title for
the first time by stopping Providence, Rhode Island's always game
Peter Manfredo Jr. 37-7-0 (20KOs) in the fifth round of the HBO main
event on Saturday night.
Much taller and with the longer reach,
Chavez Jr. boxed carefully on the counter in the first round, with
Manfredo landing some late uppercuts.
Chavez Jr. stayed on track in the
second, landing some thudding shots to the body as Manfredo came
forward, getting smacked in spots throughout the rounds. A counter left hook would staggered Manfredo
briefly towards the end of the round.
Imposing his size and power, Chavez Jr.
began to land hard right hands which stunned Manfredo several times,
with the latter standing tough, landing some clipping shots which included
a late shot after the bell.
As the fight continued, Chavez Jr. began to stand his ground
more, firing back and landing hard shots while displaying underrated
defense when taken back to the ropes. Manfredo on his part, landed
several hooks upstairs of the winging variety.
Uncharacteristically, Chavez Jr. had
not shown his vaunted body and uppercuts thus far, walking back to
his corner sporting a bloody nose.
The end came suddenly after spending
most of the round moving more than before, Chavez Jr. set
an incoming Manfredo with a great right hand to the temple which
wobbled him badly.
Chavez Jr. rushed in with shots against
a hurt Manfredo, driving him against the ropes, throwing thirty eight
unanswered punches, with the referee stepping in and stopping the
bout at 1:52 of the fifth round for a TKO
''I boxed more in this fight, worked
hard at it in the gym and I think I looked good this being my first
fight boxing a bit more than usual.''stated Chaves Jr. after the fight, adding: ''I want to fight the best, I respect
and will like to fight Canelo (Alvarez) but it all depends on what
my promoter wants to do.''
''He caught me with a good shot, I
didn't get a chance, I guess I'm not an HBO fighter, everytime I
fight here I lose'' Manfredo added on the post fight interview.
Afterwards, the trumpets by the HBO commentators
were sounded hard for a Chavez Jr. vs Sergio Martinez fight.
