By Mark Vester
At the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (38-0-1, 29 KOs) won a unanimous decision over Matt Vanda (39-8, 22 KOs) in a rematch fought at a catch-weight between junior middleweight and middleweight. The scores were 99-91, 97-93 and 97-92.
Chavez started fast, throwing a good jab to set up his punches. The trend continued in the second, with Chavez getting braver and unloading punches off the jab. Chavez began to use his left hooks to the body during the third. Vanda, a known slow starter, began to let his hands go in the fourth as the two traded punches.
Chavez won a very unpopular split-decision over Matt Vanda in July. So unpopular that Chavez's hometown crowd in Hermosillo, Mexico would their disgust by showering the ring with bottles, cans and other objects. Chavez faded bad in the late rounds, going to the hospital afterwards and claiming a bad cold for the poor performance. During the fifth and sixth, Chavez let his hands go more often with combination punching to the head and body. At the end of the sixth, Vanda threw a lot of hard punches.
In the seventh Vanda and Chavez would trade punches in a very close round. Chavez came out firing body shots in the eight, landing them over and over until Vanda finally tried to counter. More combinations to the body by Chavez in the ninth, Vanda looked good in short spots. The tenth and final round was a war, with both fighters letting it all hang out and go to war with big punches being exchanged for all three rounds.
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