Chavez Jr. wins Vanda rematch cleanly

Ryan Burton@ringside

02/11/2008

Chavez Jr. wins Vanda rematch cleanly

J.C. Chavez Jr. W10 Matt Vanda... Julio Chavez, Jr. (38-0-1) quieted his skeptics in his rematch with Matt Vanda (38-8).  Chavez won a unanimous ten-round victory.  The scores  were 99-91, 97-93 and 98-92.  Chavez started off strong and dominated the first two rounds.  Vanda started making a push in the third, landing combinations.  He was scoring points but he wasn't able to hurt Chavez.  Chavez won but did not dominate the middle rounds.  The pro-Chavez crowd chanted their man's name, drowning out the occasional "Eastside scream" for the few Vanda supporters in attendance. Unlike their first fight, it was Chavez who turned it on towards the end of the fight. Chavez won the last three rounds on every judges' scorecard.  In the final round, Vanda tried to rally, peppering Chavez with punches and yelling for him to trade blows.  In response, Chavez started to rally and hammered away with combinations to the head and body. At one point Chavez, obviously responding to Vanda yelling at him, dropped his gloves as if to say go ahead and take your best shot.  Vanda, obviously gassed, flailed helplessly and couldn't land a shot as Chavez bobbed and weaved.  Chavez then decided he wanted to finish with a fury and went back to punishing Vanda.  Vanda was never hurt but was outclassed in the rematch.  The final Compubox stats show a close fight with Chavez landing 176 punches and Vanda landing 165.  The difference was in the power shots as Chavez landed 151 to only 114 for Vanda.