Chavez Jr poleaxed by Fonfara
Poland's Andrzej Fonfara (27-3, 16 KOs) dropped and then stopped Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-2-1, 32 KOs) at the end of the ninth round on Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Former WBC middleweight champion Chavez, who returned to the ring for the first time since March 2014 when he defeated Brian Vera by unanimous decision, was fighting at a catch weight of 172 pounds. But he never seemed to be able to deal with the size of Fonfara and was beaten to the punch repeatedly.
Fonfara dominated the entire fight, landing jabs and right hands as Chavez advanced but without covering up or moving his head.
Chavez threw a few combinations and landed a couple of decent body shots, but it was Fonfara’s assaults that was winning the rounds.
Fonfara was deducted a point in the seventh for using his shoulder but that made no difference to the outcome as he continued to wear Chavez down with more hard shots.
The Mexican’s face was starting to swell up in the eighth and a left hand in the ninth knocked down Chavez for the first time in his professional career.
Fonfara went for the finish but Chavez was able to survive the round. However, when in his corner, Chavez complained he had injured his leg and asked trainer Joe Goossen to stop the fight.
With the win, Fonfara captured the vacant WBC international light heavyweight title.
"I knew Chavez was a good, tough fighter," said Fonfara. "When he hit me for the first time in the first round, I knew I was gonna win this fight. He didn’t punch as hard as everybody said he did.
"I was a little surprised that he did not come out for the 10th round, but he was cut, been getting beat up and just got knocked down, so he knew what would happen if he came out.”
Chavez said: "He's a good fighter. I want a rematch at 170."