Tijuana Thunder PPV Report

By Mike Sempervive

In a time when it seems that all pay-per-view events, not produced by the UFC, are at their weakest points of the millennium era, leave it to a guy named Chavez to headline a card that was worth the money.

Junior middleweight (154-pound) Julio Cesar Chavez Junior, son of the legendary “El Gran Campeón,” may have not looked too dynamic but he and Luciano Cuello took turns attempting to grind each other into dust, as the two brawled to a bloody 10-round unanimous decision (98-92, 96-94, 96-95) victory for Chavez. The show, available for a suggested retail price of $39.99, was distributed by Bob Arum’s Top Rank promotional company, and emanated from the Plaza de Torres in Tijuana, where attendance was estimated at well over 20,000.

With the win, the 23-year old Chavez runs his record to 39 (29)-0 (0)-1, and continues his methodical mimicking of his father’s career path. The Argentinean-born, Madrid-based Cuello suffers his first loss, falling to 23 (10)- 1 (0)-0, but gained a bit of notoriety for himself by engaging in a such a battle, where the final score totals didn’t reflect how close the bout was. In fact, many in the crowd booed as the scores were read both during the fight, and after (the WBC sanctioning body has a rule that the scores must be made public after the fourth and eighth rounds), believing that Cuello should have gotten more credit than he did for his outstanding jab and ring generalship.

The bout began, as it would ultimately end, with Chavez unloading wicked body shots that reddened Cuello’s sides early on. Through the first two rounds, Cuello forced the action by going into Chavez’ chest, but he was also the recipient of the Mexican’s sharp counterpunching. In the third, Cuello began to impose his will on Chavez, using a perfect jab, as he baited his taller opponent into fighting small.

Also in the third, the blood began to stream. Chavez had a small cut over the left eye, and Cuello looked to have broken his nose, as it began to gush turning Chavez’ white trunks red. In the fourth, another small cut was opened up on the top of Cuello’s head, but he dominated the round anyway, scoring on Chavez throughout the round with crisp jabs and body work. The rounds got tighter in the middle, with Cuello continuing to use his jab to force Chavez back and open him up for combinations, but also seeing the second-generation star rally in an attempt to steal the rounds. In the sixth, the cut on Chavez opened up, as he completely abandoned his seven-inch reach advantage (76” to 69”), and instead stood, literally, head-to-head with Cuello, as both began to shower the canvas with crimson. This didn’t go over with his father very well, who was quite animated at ringside, often shadowboxing as he screamed instructions at his son to stand back and use his advantages.

Cuello had stated before the fight that he believed he held a stamina advantage over Chavez, and would be able to break him down as the fight went further. But, in the eighth, it was Chavez that would begin to rally, scoring with a steady stream of punches to the body, combined with battering head shots. After the round the scores were announced, and it would be obvious that Cuello would need a quick knockdown to try and stay in the fight. One judge had the bout 77-75 for Chavez, which could be argued as correct, but two others had the Culiacan-native up 78-74 and 79-73, which looked to be rather generous.

The final two rounds were spent in the center of the ring with both fighters pounding away at each other with brutal shots to the body, and uppercuts to the face. Needing a knockout in the final round, Cuello just couldn’t put enough on his punches and fell victim to a renewed assault on his ribcage.

“This was a good fight for me,” Chavez said after the night was over. “I learned a lot over 10 rounds. It was probably one of my best fights.”

While Julio Cesar Chavez Senior was one of the early heroes of boxing on pay-per-view, and almost single-handedly carried Don King when Mike Tyson was in prison, it’s Julio Junior who’s looking to continue carving his own niche. This was the fifth Top Rank “Latin Fury” themed pay-per-view event (there’s been eight total) that “El Hijo de J.C. Superstar” has headlined, with two of them reportedly garnering over 70,000 buys each, making him a legitimate player on smaller-scale PPV events that have taken advantage of the burgeoning Latino market.

After the bout, promoter Bob Arum speculated that the next fight for Chavez Junior is a higher-profile one against possibly middleweight fighter John Duddy, or “maybe Oscar De La Hoya if he decides to continue fighting.” He then mentioned Manny Pacquiao – who has become the new De La Hoya, as he’s the guy you want to grandstand challenge for the financial windfall that could possibly follow. For Arum it would be perfect, as he’s got both under promotional contracts, anyway, and the bout would likely be big enough to get HBO to pick up the production and distribution.

“Those are the fights that will motivate me to take it to the next level,” he said. “I look forward to those challenges.”

In the semi-main event, Humberto Soto not only made a statement against Antonio “T-Rex” Davis – blazing his way to a fourth-round knockout – but drove home the exclamation point he needed to announce himself as a legitimate candidate to face the winner of the May 2 Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton superfight.

He started the fight aggressive, and never let up. At the end of the first round he dropped a ducking Davis with a left hook to the head. Davis was rocked again in round two, but was able to steady himself and began to try and hold onto the Tijuana native, and brawl inside. It was unsuccessful and, by the fourth round, Davis had nothing left. He was knocked down twice, within a minute, both with huge right hands, and after a barrage of Soto punches, referee Roberto Ramirez Junior called a halt to the bout at 2:38.

Soto, 28, raised his record to 47 (30)-7 (1)-2, while the 36-year old Davis falls to 26 (13)-5 (2)-0.

In a bout for the vacant “interim” WBO bantamweight (118-pound) title, Los Moches native Fernando Montiel, 39 (29)- 2 (0)-1, annihilated Argentinean opponent Diego Silva, 24 (12)-2 (1)-3, when the fight was stopped at 2:24 of round three. The impressive victory was essential for Top Rank promotions to try and generate interest from the boxing public for a Montiel-Vic Darchinyan (the World 115-pound champion) bout.

The feeling out process didn’t last long as Montiel, 30, began to force the action. Initially, the confident Silva, 25, was able to counter the attack, but by midway through the second round he was confused and weakened. Being picked apart on at-will inside, Silva (who had never fought outside Argentina or Uruguay before) was hampered worse by his awkward punch delivery that constantly lined him up to eat vicious straight left hands.

After going down once in the second round, Silva was put down again in the third – this time by a short left hand when he double clutched trying to decide if he wanted to throw a left jab or a right hand, leaving his entire face exposed. The same mistake caused his demise later in the round, when he stepped into another left hand that smashed flush of his face, flooring him so hard that referee Raul Caiz Senior ended the fight without bothering to count.

In the opening bout veteran Antonio Diaz, 46 (29)-5 (3)-0, defeated prospect Javier Castro, 19 (17)- 1 (0)-0, by unanimous decision after ten rounds, in a entertaining hard-fought bout.

Originally, Diaz was scheduled to face off in a high profile bout against Jose Luis Castillo, in a fight that was hyped as Diaz looking to get revenge for his brother, Julio, who lost by TKO-10 to Castillo in 2005. But, Castillo injured an Achilles tendon, and Castro – who came in with 9 first round KO’s, and 14 of them in the first four rounds – was thrust into the spot.

Diaz, who has won four in a row in his comeback attempt, survived several low blows that Castro was docked a point for.

The show also marked the debut of female fighter Maureen Shea as an announcer, and she was rather underwhelming alongside the solid tandem of Rich Marotta, and longtime great color man Al Bernstein.