Monday 20 April 2015 09:06, UK
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr was stopped after nine rounds by Andrzej Fonfara on his return to the ring after more than a year out of the ring.
Chavez Jr had been out of action since March 2014 and looked out of sorts for long spells in his catchweight 172lb clash with the Pole, who ran out a convincing winner in Carson, California.
The Mexican had been a target for super-middleweight champion Carl Froch, who admitted he would love to end his career with a Las Vegas date against the former middleweight No 1, who lost his unbeaten record against Sergio Martinez in 2012.
Froch hinted last week that his decision over one final big fight was probably between taking on Chavez in Vegas and a possible home showdown with James DeGale.
Fonfara, who fights out of Chicago, landed big shots all night in the outdoor StubHub Center ring, and his left hand in the ninth knocked down Chavez (48-2) for the first time in his professional career.
Chavez made it back to his corner, but was seen to say "I'm done" to his trainer Joe Goosen and failed to come out for the start of the 10th round.
Fonfara had been on top almost from the opening bell, throwing more than double the shots Chavez managed, while also landing far more power punches.
Chavez Jr landed one or two decent body shots but rarely had Fonfara in any trouble, and the Pole revealed he was confident of victory from an early stage.
“When he hit me for the first time in the first round, I knew I was gonna win this fight,” said Fonfara, who suffered his first defeat since 2011 last summer against Adonis Stevenson.
“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.”
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