HBO Boxing
New York, NY– With only one card of significance being dealt out this weekend, it’s the calm after last Saturday night’s controversial storm when Mexico’s “Son of a Legend” and recently crowned “WBC middleweight champion” (160) Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (43-0-1, 30 KOs) squares off against former reality TV star of “the Contender” Peter Manfredo Jr. (37-6, 20 KOs) over 12 proposed rounds of throw down at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas, Saturday at 10:30 PM ET on HBO.
Chavez Jr. (left)
IS “JUNIOR” THE GOODS OR JUST MEXICAN HYPE?
At the tender age of 25 years old, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has already competed in 44 fights without knowing defeat. However, his level of opposition has left much to be desired. Since his professional debut in 2003, Chavez has commonly been pitted against “C” class battlers with losing records. During this span, Chavez went “life and death” with two (at best) “B” class fighters and barely crossed the finish line in each. To his credit, in his last bout where he won a close point’s nod for the vacant WBC middleweight strap against his best opponent to date in Sebastian Zbik, Julio displayed descent boxing ability in the educated way he varied his punch selection. In addition, by recently hiring “Hall of Fame” bound boxer/trainer Freddie Roach, Chavez is showing a willingness to continue to improve on his craft. At the end of the day, the acquisition of a legendary trainer can only help, plus Julio can bang some. Word is that if “Junior” is successful this weekend and if Saul Alvarez gets past his assignment next week against Kermit Citron, the two will meet in a “someone’s O gotta go” Mexican war for superstar notoriety in their country.
Manfredo (right)
MANFREDO: “COULDA BEEN A CONTENDA”
A non household name unless you live on a pugilistic planet like most of us “die hard” fans do here at Ring Talk, Peter Manfredo is best known for being brutally embarrassed and exposed as a “small time” fighter against Joe Calzaghe (L TKO 3). Aside from that one sided drumming he administered against Calzaghe, Peter has mostly fought at the “B” level of the game and has shown to be an average scrapper who possesses minor power. However, Manfredo’s power shots (particularly in his right uppercut) could be a telling facet in seeing if Chavez is better then the aforementioned “lighter” opposition that has suffered Manfredo’s wrath.
John Signorella