By Dan Ambrose: In a battle of former stars from the reality television series The Contender, super middleweight contender Sakio Bika (27-3-2, 17 KOs) took out Peter Manfredo Jr. (31-6, 16 KOs) in the 3rd round of a scheduled 12-round bout to win the vacant IBO super middleweight title and interim NABF super middleweight title on Thursday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center, in Providence, Rhode Island.
Bika, 29, staggered Manfredo Jr. with a right hand in the third round and then proceeded to nail him with an uninterrupted series of hard right hands, uppercuts and hooks as Manfredo leaned helplessly against the ropes trying to cover up.
Finally, after getting staggered twice more in the round, the fight was stopped by referee Ricky Gonzalez who stepped in between the two fighters, halting it at 1:50 of the round with Manfredo Jr. still on his feet, barely. For Mandredo Jr., a fringe contender, this had to be a crushing blow for his once promising career.
Ranked #13 in the World Boxing Council, Manfredo was never really in the right to speak of, getting hammered in the first through three rounds of the fight by the heavier punching and much busier Bika. However, Manfredo, for some reason, never really seemed to try all that hard, as he looked timid from the get go and only rarely let his hands go.
As always, Bika, 29, from Cameroon, came out fast in the first round, throwing hard hooks and uppercuts to the head. His speed wasn’t all that great nor was his punching form, but it didn’t really matter, though, because Manfredo wasn’t throwing hardly any punches back at him.
By the end of the first round, Manfredo’s face was red, and he looked shocked, out of it and not mentally into the fight. In the second round, however, Manfredo got a lucky break when he knocked Bika down with a left hand. However, it looked as if Manfredo, who was off balance at the time, gave Bika a slight push just after hitting him, causing Bika to fall down.
What was missed in all of this, besides the push from Manfredo, was the fact that Manfredo touched the canvas with his left gloves, which he reached out after almost falling. As such, it appeared to be a double knockdown, but the referee missed it. After the knockdown, Bika was furious, protesting the referee loudly for several moments.
Once the action resumed, a still angry Bika went after Manfredo with a firestorm of hard punches until the end of the round moments later. In the 3rd round, Bika continued to plaster Manfredo with hard punches to the head, manhandling him in the process. Around halfway through the round, Bika backed Manfredo to the ropes and began unloading on him with uppercuts and hooks as Manfredo futilely attempted to cover up and block the shots.
After hitting Manfredo with a flurry of hard shots, Manfredo staggered him with a right hand to the head. Bika then went all out trying to finish him off, missing many of his punches badly but finally staggering him twice more.
The referee Ricky Gonzalez stepped in finally and halted the fight, largely because Manfredo wasn’t throwing anything back and was getting tagged with big shots from Bika. The crowd, most of them pro-Manfredo, hated it and booed loudly at the stoppage. However, it looked as if the referee did the right thing because Manfredo was absorbing needless punishment and previous to this, he hadn’t been competitive at any time in the fight.
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