Chavez Jr. TKOs Manfredo; Clottey stops Green

By Boxing News - 11/19/2011 - Comments

Image: Chavez Jr. TKOs Manfredo; Clottey stops GreenBy Dan Ambrose: A huge looking WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KO’s) defeated hand-picked opponent Peter Manfredo Jr. (37-7, 20 KO’s) in a 5th round stoppage tonight at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas. Chavez Jr. hurt Manfredo with a right hand in the 5th and then flurried on him until referee Lawrence Cole stopped the fight. It looked like a really premature stoppage, however, as Manfredo may have been able to recover.

Chavez Jr. didn’t show huge power up to that point but he was smart enough to keep the action on the outside, which was a big departure for him. Chavez Jr. used his jab and landed with a high percentage with his shots. Manfredo, who arguably didn’t deserve to be ranked at number #4 by the WBC, basically walked into Chavez’s shots as he attempted to turn the fight into a brawl. For the most part, Chavez Jr. fought with much better discipline in this fight compared to in his last two fights against Billy Lyell and Sebastian Zbik. But then again, Manfredo didn’t look at all good and was the perfect opponent for a limited fighter like Chavez Jr. to excel against.

With this win, Chavez Jr. is now going to have to make a huge decision whether to fight former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez next or not. The WBC is saying that Chavez Jr. will have to fight Martinez next and Chavez has said he will do that. However, he would most definitely lose and lose badly to Martinez if the fight were to be made. It’s likely Chavez Jr. will vacate the title rather than facing Martinez and getting knocked out or easily beaten.

After the fight, Chavez Jr. said he’d leave it up to his promoter who he fights next but it’ll be between the following fighters: Saul Alvarez and Sergio Martinez.

In other action on the card:

Joshua Clottey TKO 2 Calvin Green
Marcus Johnson UD 6 Billy Bailey
Mickey Bey Jr UD 8 Hector Velazquez
Ivan Otero MD 4 Gino Escamilla
Wale Omotoso UD 8 Lanardo Tyner



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