By James Slater: Former “Contender” star Peter Manfredo Junior said all along he would retire from boxing and go back to working for a living and being a husband and a father if he lost in his challenge of WBC middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Junior. Last night in Houston, after being stopped (somewhat prematurely it looked like to me) in the 5th-round of an exciting tussle, “The Pride of Providence” kept his word.
“I’m done,” the 30-year-old said. “He caught me with a good shot. I got close, but he caught me with a good shot. What are you going to do? He caught me with a couple of shots early on and I brushed them off. Then he caught me good and they stopped it. They don’t let you fight anymore. I’m a throwback fighter and they don’t let that happen anymore. You get hurt and they stop it.
“I don’t want to fight anymore. If I can’t fight at a world class level then I don’t want to fight anymore.”
It’s a shame if the gutsy, give-his-all warrior is walking away from boxing with a bad taste in his mouth. Could Manfredo (who never came close to going down during the fight-ending barrage in the 5th) have got himself together and come back and engaged in the “Gatti-Ward type fight” he said beforehand he was looking forward to having? We will never know, and that may hurt Manfredo more than anything else.
If he does stick to his retirement – and it sure sounds like he will – Manfredo walks away with an honest 37-7(20) ledger.
As for 25-year-old Chavez Jr, he said post-fight that he “fears no man” and that includes “real” middleweight king Sergio Gabriel Martinez. There is also talk of the 44-0-1(31) Mexican star facing Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. The all-Mexican clash looks more likely to happen than a Martinez-Chavez showdown, at least according to those experts who say Bob Arum will never let young Chavez in a ring with the fearsome Argentine southpaw.
For now, though, despite the debatable timing of the stoppage he won by last night, Chavez Jr. can celebrate his career-best performance.
On the under-card last night at The Reliant Arena in Houston, former IBF welterweight ruler Joshua Clottey, having his first fight back since his disappointing effort against Manny Pacquiao in March of 2010, stopped Calvin Green via 2nd-round TKO. Now campaigning as a 154-pounder (34-year-old Clottey came in at 156 last night), “The Grand Master” could figure in some interesting fights at light-middleweight.
Clottey is now 36-4(21) – never having been stopped. 33-year-old Green is now 21-7-1(13).