Chavez gets best of Vanda in rematch

By Jeff Haney

Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008 | 10:48 p.m.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. delivered on his promise to erase any doubts lingering from his first fight with Matt Vanda.

Relying on brutally effective combinations and a stinging right hand, Chavez swept the first three and the final three rounds on the scorecards on the way to a 10-round unanimous-decision victory against Vanda in a hotly anticipated rematch Saturday night at Mandalay Bay.

No protests greeted the decision this time, as they did after Chavez's controversial win by split decision July 12 in Hermosillo, Mexico. Even Vanda acknowledged Chavez got the best of him in the second go-round.

"He outworked me," Vanda (39-8) said. "He won the fight, but I think the people got their money's worth."

The main event of a Top Rank pay-per-view show was scheduled for super welterweight but fought at 156 pounds. Both camps agreed to the change after Chavez initially came in two pounds heavy, although the weight was not a factor in the fight.

Vanda, of St. Paul, Minn., was game throughout and gave the Mexican all he could handle, particularly during the middle rounds, before Chavez's skill won out.

"I changed up and I boxed him more this time," Chavez (38-0-1, 29 KOs) said. "I dictated the rhythm of the fight. We fought when I wanted to fight, and we boxed when I wanted to box."

Judge Glenn Trowbridge scored it 98-92 for Chavez, Dave Moretti had it 97-93 and Dick Houck scored it 99-91. The Sun's scorecard also had it 97-93 for Chavez, who went off as a minus 750 betting favorite at Mandalay Bay after opening at minus 500.

The card drew a largely pro-Chavez crowd of 5,414 to the Events Center.

Nonito Donaire (20-1, 13 KOs) retained his IBF flyweight world title with a sixth-round stoppage of Moruti Mthalane (22-2) in the lead undercard bout. Referee Joe Cortez halted the fight at 1:31 of Round 6 because of a severe cut above Mthalane's left eye that opened when Donaire drilled him with a straight right.

Donaire, who had won four of the first five rounds on two judges' cards and three rounds on the other card, was forced to adopt a southpaw stance at times after breaking a finger on his left hand in the first round.

"I knew he couldn't see," said Donaire, a native of the Philippines who fights out of San Leandro, Calif. "He kept fighting but he had a vision problem. He's a tough guy but I got lucky tonight. I busted him up."

In other featured bouts:

Jorge Arce (51-4-1, 39 KOs) recorded a fourth-round TKO of Isidro Garcia (25-6-2) for the WBA super flyweight interim championship. After three rounds in which both men were relentlessly attacking with body shots, Arce poured it on from the opening of the deciding round, dropping Garcia once before referee Tony Weeks called it off at the 48-second mark.

Lamont Peterson (26-0, 12 KOs) scored a 10-round unanimous decision against Lanardo Tyner (19-2) in a super lightweight fight.

Peterson, of Washington, D.C., won by 98-91, 99-87 and 99-90 on the judges' cards in an action-filled bout despite being docked a point in the fourth round for a low blow. Peterson outjabbed Tyner 50-8 and held an advantage of 195-69 in power punches, according to CompuBox statistics.

Two-time 165-pound amateur world champ Matt Korobov (1-0, 1 KO) won his professional debut with a TKO of Mario Evangelista (1-2-1) at 2:01 of the third round. Trainer Dan Birmingham said he was pleased with the performance of Korobov, who punished Evangelista for much of the scheduled four-rounder before catching him with a crunching short right hand.

The punch jarred Evangelista and led referee Russell Mora to halt the bout. Korobov, a 2008 Russian Olympian, will next fight Dec. 13 on the undercard of the Kendall Holt-Ricardo Torres junior welterweight fight in Atlantic City.

Also on the undercard:

Vanes Martirosyan (22-0, 14 KOs) stopped Charlie Howe (16-6-2) by technical knockout at 1:20 of Round 1. Martirosyan weighed in at 157 pounds to Howe's 159 in a fight scheduled for super welterweight.

Ty Barnett (16-0-1, 11 KOs) won a majority decision against Johnnie Edwards (14-3-1) in a super lightweight bout.

Mark Tucker (6-0, 5 KOs) won a unanimous decision against Terrence Wilson (5-4).

Jeff Haney can be reached at 259-4041 or at [email protected].