By Jim Dower: Fresh off a 7th round stoppage over journeyman Walid Smichet last weekend, super middleweight Peter Manfredo Jr. (32-6, 17 KOs) is hoping to get a shot at unbeaten middleweight contender John Duddy (26-0, 17 KOs) in the near future. If possible, Manfredo, 28, would like to fight two or three more times before facing Duddy. A win over Duddy would push Manfredo up into the middleweight rankings, where he plans on fighting in the future.
However, the chances of Duddy giving Manfredo a fight would seem to be a long shot at best. Duddy. 29, is ranked number #2 in the World Boxing Organization and #4 in the WBC, so he’ll likely not be interested in taking a risky fight with Manfredo before then and possibly ruin his big money title shot against Pavlik.
Duddy already messed up one title shot last year when he struggled to beat Walid Smichet, winning a 10-round majority decision but having two huge cuts opened up over both eyes. The title shot instead went to Gary Lockett, while Duddy had to let his extensive cuts heal.
Manfredo had his problems with Smichet as well. However, Manfredo was able to knock a tired Smichet out in the 7th round to capture the victory. It was hardly an impressive performance, though, by Manfredo as he was hit early and often by Smichet and showed poor defensive ability against the journeyman. It was a good victory, but Manfredo looked sloppy and not true world class in my opinion.
Smichet, 29, controlled the first round by attacking Manfredo and pounding him with combinations to the head and body. Manfredo tried using movement to keep the powerful Smichet off him but it didn’t work that well, because Smichet was able to corner him and nail him with big shots.
The 2nd round was close, as Smichet continued to smother Manfredo and pound him with big shots to the head. Manfredo landed some clubbing punches and looked to be on the way to winning the round. However, Smichet came on in the last 30 seconds to steal the round with big hooks to the head. Manfredo looked like a bigger version of Smichet and fought almost identically in the round.
In the 3rd round, Smichet got too aggressive and was knocked down by a right hand from Manfredo just as he was attempting to land a right hand of his own. However, Smichet came back later in the round and appeared to come close to knocking Manfredo out as he pummeled him against the ropes. At one point, Manfredo got lodged between the top rope and was getting hit repeatedly until the referee stepped in the get Smichet off him.
Manfredo looked good through much of the 4th round. However, he let off in the last minute and took a lot of big shots from Smichet, giving away another round. If Manfredo’s defense was a little better, he might have been able to avoid many of Smichet’s big head shots.
Smichet tired out in the 5th round, looking exhausted and laboring to throw a handful of punches. Manfredo took advantage of Smichet’s lack of conditioning to tag him with a big left hook early in the round and then tagged him with another big left hook with seconds to go in the round.
In the 6th round, Manfredo landed a huge right hand in the first minute of the round. Smichet surprisingly took the shot but it was clear he wasn’t going to be able to take too many more shots like that without suffering the consequences. Smichet fought well up until the last minute of the round when Manfredo hurt him with a big left hand.
In the 7th round, Manfredo pounded away at a tired out Smichet until finally landing a big left hook that knocked Smichet out. Smichet stayed down for a long time without moving after the knockdown.
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