Ringside by Gerardo Martinez
Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
It took Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1-1, 32 KOs) four rounds to solve challenger Andy Lee (28-2, 20 KOs). After figuring out he could withstand the Irishman’s punches, the undefeated WBC middleweight champion launched an attack that ended with a satisfying win that had 13,467 cheering fans at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso cheering madly.
The Top Rank-promoted fight was televised on HBO’s World Championship Boxing.
“He never hurt me, and that’s why I came in and attacked,” Chavez told the media after the fight.
For the first four rounds, Lee stuck to the game plan but then decided to trade punches at the beginning of the fifth. The decision to trade with Chavez would be Lee’s demise – “My punches had no effect on him,” Lee later stated.
After a slow start due to leg cramps, Chavez began toying with Lee in round five, daring him to throw punches. Lee did just that and caught Chavez with shots to the head and body. Chavez absorbed the shots and blasted Lee with his own power shots.
In the sixth, Chavez was able to tag Lee and connect against the ropes. He landed an uppercut to end the round.
It would be in the seventh round that the rising superstar would put it all together and apply unrelenting pressure to his opponent. Once Chavez was able to drive Lee against the ropes, he let loose a barrage of punches punctuated with a right cross, that finished off the Irishman at 2:21 as referee Lawrence Cole stopped the contest.
Chavez called out Sergio Martinez in the post fight press conference and his promoter Bob Arum stated that he was looking at a September 15 date for the mega fight.
All three judges had Lee ahead before the stoppage with scores of 58-56 through six rounds.
Off-TV results
In the swing bout of the evening Oklahoma City’s Alex “El Cholo” Saucedo (4-0, 3 KO’s) was unable to knock out the hard-headed James Harrison (1-1-1, 1 KO’s) out of Louisiana. Saucedo was on the attack throughout the four rounds landing hooks and straight rights. Harrison was hit with heavy shots, but was able to clinch and survive. At the end of four rounds the slicker Saucedo taking the unanimous decision win with scores of 40-36 times three.
In a lightweight contest that almost lulled the crowd of over 13,000 to sleep, Miguel Angel “Titere” Vasquez (31-3, 13 KO’s) was able to outpunch the shorter Daniel Attah (26-11-1-1, 9 KO’s) of Nigeria and earn a unanimous decision win with scores of 100-90 times three.
Vasquez had many advantages over Attah: age, height and reach. He was able to use all three to keep the Nigerian off of him throughout the contest. It was the same story throughout the ten rounds. Vasquez would come forward and try to land around the turtle shell defense of Attah and Attah would respond with powerless punches. It wasn’t until the tenth round that Attah decided to become somewhat more aggressive, but, by then, it was too little, too late.
Both men lacked power which added to the dullness of the fight. Vasquez did land quite a few hooks to the body and had Attah grimacing from the pain, but the tough Nigerian never wilted.
Ronnie Shields-trained Adam Lopez (3-0, 1 KO) was the aggressor throughout the four round super bantamweight battle against hometowner Raul Carrillo (1-6, 1 KO). Both men started out quick and began exchanging from the first bell. Lopez had the speed and age advantage. As the scorecards would reflect, Lopez took every round, but not without receiving his share of punches from the tough veteran Carrillo, who wore a memorial to the late Johnny Tapia. At the end of four the judges saw the fight 40-36, 40-36 and 39-37 giving the San Antonian Lopez the win by unanimous decision.
The no three knockdown rule was in full effect in El Paso. Dallas’ Roberto Marroquin (22-1, 15 KO’s) took full advantage of it, dropping Puerto Rico’s Arturo Santiago (7-6-1, 4 KO’s) three times in the first round of the eight round super bantamweight contest. Santiago was floored with left hooks to the face the first two times and with a flurry of punches the third time, before he got to his feet and was saved by the bell.
The Puerto Rican valiantly came forward in second only to get dropped with another left hook to the head. The referee had seen enough and even though Santiago beat the count, stopped the beating at 1:32 of the second round, giving the TKO win to Marroquin.
Casey “The Wizard” Ramos (16-0, 4 KO’s) did his magic, but was unable to floor Fort Worth fighter Arthur Trevino (7-8-3, 4 KO’s) in a lightweight contest. Ramos was able to find a home for his punches on the head and body of Trevino beginning in the first round. Trevino was able to land sparringly due to the good defensive skills of Ramos.
In the third round Ramos landing a barrage of punches and somehow Trevino still finished the round standing. Ramos continued his onlsaught in the fourth with Trevino landing one punch at a time. In the fifth, Trevino’s corner saw no point in allowing their pug to continue receiving punishment and threw in the towel at 1:14 giving Ramos the TKO win.
El Paso’s Abraham “El Koreano Mexicano” Han (17-0, 11 KO’s) looked impressive against his cross state opponent Joseph Gomez (18-5-1, 7 KO’s) of New Mexico. Han began the body attack early landing rights to the body of Gomez. Gomez was able to straight rights in the second as Han began switching stances.
“He got me with some light shots, but never hurt me,” said Han. “It was kinda nice to have someone who would stand up and fight me.”
And that’s exactly what Gomez did more of in the third round where he was dropped three times with left hooks to the body and straight rights. The last knockdown of the round was due to a barrage of punches by Han. Gomez got to his feet and made it out alive.
Knowing that his opponent could not withstand his punches Han came forward and got caught with a right by Gomez, but that did not stop him landing two straight rights in a row, dropping Gomez for a fourth time. Gomez valiantly got up, but his corner had seen enough and waved the white flag at 1:39 giving Han the TKO in the fourth round.
Guadalajara’s Alejandro “Cobrita” Gonzalez Jr. (12-0-2, 7 KO’s) looked impressive in his first round demolition of Tijuana’s Leopoldo Gonzalez (12-7-1, 7 KO’s). Gonzalez Jr. caught his opponent with a straight right and dropped him to the canvas. He stood up only to get caught again with a hard straight right and again went down. “Cobrita” responded with a flurry of punches and the third man in the ring had seen enough putting a halt to the bout at 0:44 seconds of the first awarding a TKO win to Gonzalez Jr.
Tremaine “The Mighty Midget” Williams (2-0, 2 KO) remained true to his moniker in the curtain raiser as he KO’d San Antonio’s Theo Johnson (0-2) at 2:24 of the third round. Johnson did offer some resistance by throwing punches at Williams, but Williams superior defense caused those punches to miss. In the third round Johnson was able to land shots in close range, but Williams countered effectively as he drove his opponent towards the ropes. It was against the ropes that Williams would show his might with a barrage of punches upstairs and downstairs. It would be the hooks to the body that would put Johnson on the canvas where he would stay until after the ten count.
