Peter Manfredo Jr. vs. Angel Camacho Jr. on May 13

By Boxing News - 04/14/2016 - Comments

manfredo34334By Dan Ambrose: 35-year-old former two-time world title challenger Peter Manfredo Jr. (40-7, 21 KOs) will be coming out of a near three-year retirement to face 32-year-old unbeaten light heavyweight Angel Camacho Jr. (15-0, 5 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round fight next month on May 13 at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

It’s unknown why the nearly 36-year-old Manfredo Jr. is deciding to make a comeback after three years out of the ring. If he’s going to be campaigning as a light heavyweight, his chances for success will be about zero.

To be sure, Manfredo Jr. might be able to scratch out some kind of living as a gate keeper in the 175lb division, but surely not as a top fighter. It would likely lead to disastrous consequences for Mandredo Jr. if he were thrown into the ring against the following light heavyweights: Artur Beterbiev, Eleider Alvarez, Sullivan Barrera, Sergey Kovalev, Juergen Braehmer, Adonis Stevenson, Marcus Browne, Jean Pascal, Andrezj Fonfara, Isaac Chilemba, Edwin Rodriguez, Andre Ward and Vyacheslav Shabransky.

There is just no place for someone like Manfredo Jr. at light heavyweight in my opinion. The same for super middleweight. There are too many good fighters for Manfredo Jr. to be a factor in that division. But if his goal is just to be a gate keeper type of fighter, then he might be able to do alright in that type of spot.

Manfredo Jr. fought in “The Contender” reality TV series over 10 years ago. From there, Manfredo Jr. was able to get fights against Joe Calzaghe and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., both of which Manfredo Jr. was easily beaten. After being stopped in the 5th round by Chavez Jr. in November 2011, Manfredo Jr. won his last three fights against Walter Wright, Rayco Saunders and Richard Gingras. After the win over Gingras in November 2013, Manfredo Jr. retired. It was a strange way of getting out of the sport because many fighters retire off a loss rather than three straight wins, albeit against weak opposition.

“I had 2½ years off and when I approached Jimmy and told him I wanted to fight again, I said, ‘Whoever you’ve got,'” Manfredo said via espn.com. “I feel young. I feel good. I’m already ready. If the fight were tomorrow, I’d be ready. If you feel good and you look good, then there’s really no fear. There’s nothing he’s going to show me that I haven’t seen. I’ve been in there with the best fighters in the world and have only lost to the best. I don’t feel like he’s on my level. I’m a better fighter than him. I’ve got a lot of respect for him, don’t get me wrong, but I still feel like I’m on a different level.”

Even if Manfredo Jr. wins this fight against Camacho, it’s not like he’s going to go somewhere. I don’t see it happening. At best, Manfredo Jr. might get a world title shot just on him being a recognizable name to the older hardcore boxing fans that remember his fights against Chavez Jr. and Calzaghe many years ago. The new fans won’t know who Manfredo Jr. is though, so he might not get a shot at a world title.

Manfredo Jr. might have to actually earn a shot at a world champion by working himself to a No.1 spot with one of the sanctioning bodies at 168 or 175. I don’t see that happening. But stranger things have happened, look at 44-year-old Shannon Briggs, who is ranked #7 with the WBA at heavyweight. We’ve also see flawed fighters Jo Jo Dan and Kevin Bizier ranked #1 by the IBF at welterweight. The sanctioning bodies are very strange. They rank fighters that sometimes look no better than 3rd tier guys. Perhaps one of the sanctioning bodies will give Manfredo a gift number 1 ranking so he can get a title shot. In the best possible world, Manfredo Jr. will do the right thing by working hard to earn himself a number one ranking rather than have it given to him based on wins over less than dangerous opposition. Manfredo Jr. would then fight against one of the world champions in a fight that would attract a great deal of interest. It would be interesting if it played out like that.



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