By Nate Anderson: Lightweight Jon Thaxton (34-8, 19 KOs) resurrected his floundering career on Saturday night with a 3rd round stoppage over Juan Carlos Diaz Melero (36-2, 19 KOs) to win the vacant EBU (European) lightweight title at the Norwich Showground, in Norwich, Norfolk. The win, as good as it is, only whets the appetitive of the 34-year-old Thaxton, who would like to get a shot at one of the lightweight champions in 2009 or at least be able to fight for the chance at the WBC title, currently held by Manny Pacquiao, who will probably be vacating it shortly.
Thaxton was in good form against Melero, knocking him out with a single right hand in the 3rd round. After dropping him with a tremendous fight hand, the fight was almost immediately stopped by referee Robin Dolpierre, who officially stopped the bout at 2:29 of the 3rd round with Melero still on his back on the canvas. The ringside medical team was quickly brought into the ring as precaution and Melero was examined just in case there were any potential lingering serious problems as a result of the knockdown. Thaxton, who was stopped on cuts in the 6th round by Yuri Romanov in April, looked altogether a different fighter out there on Saturday night, attacking the Spaniard Melero like a Pit Bull in the first round, and hitting him with big left hand shots to the head.
Switching constantly from southpaw to orthodox, Thaxton seemed to confuse Melero, who was left constantly guessing which style to fight in against Thaxton. As Melero would come forward, Thaxton would nail him with straight left hands down the middle and causing him to stumble and lose his balance on occasion.
In the 2nd round, Melero, 32, fought a little bit better, and was able to land a few good shots in the opening minute of the round. However, Thaxton kept up the pace of his attack with left hands and pounded away at Melero’s defenses, backing him up and hitting him with hard shots. Near the end of the round, Thaxton landed first a really hard right hand and then a short time later, a big left hand that seemed to get Melero’s attention.
In the 3rd round, Thaxton continued hitting Melero with good shots to the head. Thaxton then started throwing more combinations to the head, backing Melero up. After coming off the ropes, Melero walked into a perfect right hand from Thaxton that crashed into Melero’s head, sending him down to the canvas on his back. There was absolutely no way that he could have gotten up after such a bad knockdown. The fight was immediately stopped at that point by the referee.
Thaxton’s power makes him more than an equal to the best fighters in the lightweight division, and although he’s not as young as some of the younger fighters in the top 10, he still has more than enough power to beat any of them if given the chance. One would hope that with this win over Melero, as well as Thaxton’s capture of the BBBofC British lightweight title a couple of years ago, he might be given a boost up in the rankings allowing him to contend for one of the lightweight titles. He certainly deserves a chance to fight for the title after all these years.