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Manfredo – Lost In The Blizzard
WED April 11, BUSTER PARIS - “…I was thinking about catching him maybe when he stopped throwing punches … but he never stopped” ---Peter Manfredo Jr.
Halfway through the third round, Calzaghe had Manfredo against the ropes and let go a blinding blizzard of punches. Peter absorbed a lot of them on his gloves and his arms, he was even able to duck under some, and slip others, but they just kept coming. There was absolutely no sign of the assault slowing down or letting up. Peter was drowning.
Saturday April 7th, 2007 in Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales – The WBO and Ring Magazine's Super Middleweight Champion (168 lbs) Joe Calzaghe (W 43 - 32 ko's & L 0) took on Reality TV star, The Contender’s very own Peter Manfredo Jr (W 26 - 12 ko's & L 4).
We’re talking about a three round fight that could have gone longer, but it essentially was heading towards a stoppage.
The first round was a slow feeling out process. Joe was forced to be more of the aggressor and Peter was feeling out the rhythm, and passing through the respect and admiration of whom he was fighting.
The second round saw Calzaghe make a simple yet profound adjustment and he fought “lengthier”. He kept his jab out long and kept distance well. Peter couldn’t really get inside, and the more the round went on, the faster and more relaxed Joe became.
The third round again saw Calzaghe even more relaxed, moving faster and fighting with more intensity. At about the halfway mark he had Manfredo right where he wanted him, against the ropes, and then it happened.
Joe exploded in an offensive hailstorm of leather. He was hitting Peter everywhere and from every angle. He was an overwhelming tsunami of punches submerging Manfredo under his never-ending rush.
To Peter’s credit, he had his gloves up and was sopping up most of the hits. He was able to slip and duck and seemed to be using Joe’s burst as his own defensive strategy – i.e. letting Joe punch himself out, but there was no way of that happening.
Normally, it’s completely understandable that a fight with that type of utter one-sidedness gets stopped, but in this instance it was too early.
Even though there was a permeating sense of inevitability of the fight getting stopped, it was stopped too soon.
Let’s not forget one of the most important things about Manfredo – he has a damn hard head and good chin. He’s got some Jake LaMotta in him and can take a nasty beating and eventually come back at you, so for that reason alone the fight was stopped too soon.
But that’s what happened, and in the end, and after all is said and done, it’s more of a loss for Peter than a win for Joe.
Joe Calzaghe is THE Super Middleweight champion, and Peter Manfredo was nowhere near ready to fight him. It would be like having a college sophomore taking a PhD oral exam. Can be done, but it’s way too soon.
So even though Joe won, his competition wasn’t on his level. And even though Peter lost, this was the greatest fighter he had ever faced.
Calzaghe’s a fantastic fighter, he’s dazzlingly fast, and shows no signs of slowing down. Right now he’s the most popular he’s ever been, especially in the United States, and is in the legacy building time of his career. His next couple of fights are what will ultimately define him and he needs to step up the competition.
Before he moves up in weight to face the likes of Bernard Hopkins – or even before he meets a halfway point to fight Winky Wright, he owes it to his fans and more importantly to the honor of HIS division, HIS territory and HIS kingdom, The Super Middleweight Division, to finally answer the one question that everyone has been asking and demanding to find out, two simple words that will direct history:
Mikkel Kessler.
As for Peter Manfredo Jr, you have to hand it to him. He has a huge heart and is much more than just the hype of The Contender. He has a good future ahead of him. He was simply thrown too deep in the Super Middleweight pool to soon. If he stays at 168 for a while he more than likely will be the future of the division.
Scoff if you want, but it’s the truth. He is part LaMotta and he has the potential to fight like a Pitbull on Meth.
Suggested course of action for him – another fight with trainer Freddy Roach back in the picture, any of the top 10 will do. Then – pair him up against Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy – and watch what will most likely be Fight of the Year for 2008.
Buster Paris can be reached at: bparis@talkingboxing.com - and always enjoys receiving your thoughts, comments and questions.
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