Chavez Takes Off on Ahn, Wins in Third Round

Julio Cesar Chavez, who seemed more angry this week at his promoter, Don King, than his opponent, nonetheless routinely knocked out overmatched South Korean Ahn Kyung-Duk Saturday night at the Atlantic City Convention Hall.

The calm, cold-eyed Chavez easily retained his two world junior welterweight championships and in so doing demonstrated both his own marvelous skills--believed by many to the best in boxing--and also the need for reform in boxing’s widely criticized ratings systems.

Ahn, from Jinjoo City, South Korean, had never fought outside South Korea. He came into the fight with a 29-1 record, but more significantly, was rated the No. 1 contender in the world by the World Boxing Council, and thus a mandatory challenger to Chavez.

Rated the No. 17 junior-welterweight in the world by Boxing Illustrated magazine, whose ratings are believed by many to be more valid than any by the world governing bodies, Ahn was not only hopelessly outclassed but he quit on his feet, in the third round.

Chavez, who earned $300,000, thus raised his record to 73-0 (72-1, some say). He seemed at first startled by Ahn, who came out boxing and backing up, in contrast to the usual aggressive style by most South Koreans. After a tame first round, Chavez opened up in the last 15 seconds of the first, raking the challenger with hooks to the body and head.

Early in the second, the smooth, crisp-hitting Chavez knocked Ahn on his back with a straight right hand to the chin, and he landed so hard his head bounced on the bottom rope.

He rose, and was shortly thereafter rocked by a straight left hand by the Mexican, and when he followed that with a left-right combination, Ahn descended into a slow-motion crouch that referee Tony Perez also called a knockdown.

In the third, a jab by Chavez landed, but the following right hand only grazed the back of Ahn’s head. He went down anyway, Perez took a long look into his eyes as he rose, and then waved off Chavez.