El Palenque de la Feria, Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico
In the headline attraction of last night's Top Rank Latin Fury 11 PPV, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. needed just 163 seconds to see off Jason LeHoullier in an explosive performance from the Culiacan, Mexico fighter.
The son of the former Mexican legend of the same name, Chavez, now 40-0-1 (30), hadn't scored a KO win for almost 18 months but more than made up for it last night. Starting fast, he bombarded LeHoullier with punches until, with about a minute of the first round remaining, dropped LeHoullier with a vicious left hook.
Le Houllier rose but the knockdown was a heavy one, and he was powerless to resist the inevitable barrage of punches from Chavez Jr., forcing referee Ruben Carrion to step in and stop the bout with 17 seconds of the first round remaining. LeHoullier fell to 21-2-1 (8).
“Next up is John Duddy" said Chavez, indicating a match with New York based Irishman John Duddy could be next.
“After that… I fight whoever they put in front of me.”
Chavez has had a long apprenticeship and is far behind the level of most other fighters who have had 40 fights, but with little amateur experience, his pro journey has been a learning one. Before very much longer people are going to demand Chavez steps up the competition however, and Duddy would be a good start.
Also on the card, WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel (39-2-2, 29 KOs) and Alex Valdez (22-2-3, 15 KOs) fought out a technical draw in their scheduled ten round non-title bout.
Montiel will be considered lucky to escape with a draw after the result was originally announced as a technical draw - changed to a technical knockout for Valdez - before finally getting changed back to a technical draw again by WBO commissioner Luis Perez.
Montiel was cut over his left eye in the first round by what appeared to be a punch, and after a short but frantic battle with Valdez, had to be retired in his corner at the end of the third round.
If not for the rule that says all bouts ending before the fourth round due to injury are declared no contests or technical draws, Montiel would be a loser.
Another fight on this stacked Top Rank card was a WBO minimumweight title fight between champion Donnie Nietes, 25-1-3 (14) and Manuel Vargas, 26-4-1 (11).
In what was a tough, close fight, Nietes squeezed past Vargas with a split decision victory, getting home on the judges cards by scores of 118-110, 116-110 & 112-116.
The wide disparity between the judges scores could be considered an issue for concern - the scores varied so much that we have to wonder if they were all watching the same fight.
Still on the comeback trail, former two-time lightweight champ Jose Luis Castillo scored an easy 2nd round TKO win over Carlos Urias.
In a clash of Mexican veterans, Castillo, 60-9-1 (52) having lost to Sebastian Andres Lujan most recently, now fighting at welterweight, had little trouble in dealing with Urias, who fell to 41-22-0 (30).
A fighter at the other end of his career, Brandon Rios, now 21-0-1 (15), scored an easy win over a ridicilously overmatched Daniel Valenzuela, who fell to 4-8-0 (2).
The end came within two rounds of a scheduled eight round light welterweight bout. Little wonder that Rios is already scheduled to fight again next month in Texas.
Rounding off the PPV was Filipino star Z Gorres, 30-2-2 (17), who scored an impressive six round win over former WBO bantamweight champion Cruz Carbajal, now 29-17-2 (25).
Gorres, three fights ago impressively drawing with top level Armenian Vic Darchinyan, was always a step ahead in this ten round shceduled featherweight bout and forced Carbajal to retire on his stool at the end of the fifth round, allegedly with a dislocated arm.
Gorres will now presumably be looking for another title shot, and it isn't too late for this good fighter to come again, after dropping a split decision to Montiel in his first title shot, and win a world title.
By CEI SMITH
