Having already won the WBC and WBA lightweight titles, Chavez was ready to move up in weight to try for Roger Mayweather’s WBC light welterweight title. Chavez had easily beaten Mayweather in 1985 defending his super featherweight title, but that was at a weight where Mayweather (34-5-0, 23 KOs) was less comfortable than at light welterweight. In this fight, Chavez proved he could be effective in this weight class also, earning the TKO win in the tenth round.

THE UNDERCARD – Julian Jackson scored a sixth round TKO over Derwin Richards. Welterweight Mariano Solorio won a six-round decision over Luis Ambriz. Ruben Juan Alvarado knocked out Jose Mosca in one.

THE OPPONENT – Roger Mayweather turned pro in 1981 and held the USBA lightweight title and WBA and USBA super featherweight titles for short periods of time. In his first bout with Chavez, for the WBC super featherweight title, Mayweather was unable to deal with Chavez’s power and lost by a TKO in the second round. In the four years between then and this bout, he had amassed thirteen wins, including decisions over Mario Martinez and Vinny Pazienza, as well as TKO’s over Sergio Zambrano, Sammy Fuentes (for the WBC Continental Americas lightweight title) and Rene Arredondo (for the WBC junior welterweight title). Also added to his record were two losses–a sixth round knockout by Freddie Pendleton and a unanimous decision to Pernell Whitaker (NABF lightweight champ). Unlike their first fight, Mayweather now received boos during his introduction, and Chavez the cheers. After this fight, Mayweather continued to box for ten years. In 1990, he won the WBA Americas light welterweight title and then won unanimous decisions over Terrence Alli and Mike Johnson but lost a shot at the vacant IBF light welterweight title the following year to Rafael Pineda. He went on to win the IBO light welterweight and welterweight titles in 1994. However, in 1995 he lost an unanimous decision to Kostya Tszyu (for the IBF light welterweight title) and the following year a points decision to Juan Soberanes. He still managed to win the IBA welterweight title from Carlos Miranda in 1997, though, and retired two years afterwards with a record of 59-13-0 (35).

ROUND ONE – Mayweather started more cautious than in their last fight, moving a lot and jabbing to keep Chavez off. He didn’t get close enough to land one until a minute into the fight, though. Halfway into the round, Mayweather got in quick enough to unload a combination on Chavez, who wanted to trade but was held off by Mayweather’s long reach. Again Mayweather moved around the ring quickly as Chavez tried to keep up. Mayweather got in a quick combo, which Chavez was only able to respond to with a left hook to the body. Still Chavez pursued his quick opponent and managed to get in a few punches, though not very hard. Mayweather put his arm out again to keep Chavez away (for which he was warned) and then clinched just as his opponent was able to get too close to him and land a couple of shots before the bell. (HBO PunchStat showed Chavez as landing 9 out of 29 punches that round. Harold Lederman had this round for Mayweather.)

ROUND TWO – Chavez began to connect more this round, but Mayweather held when caught against the ropes. About halfway into the round Chavez landed a hard left, then another, and followed up with a series of hooks as he had Mayweather against the ropes. Mayweather was able to block most of the punches and escape without much damage, but Chavez continued to land hard blows. Two minutes into the round Mayweather landed a left that was a little low and was cautioned by the referee. Chavez responded with a hook of his own, though not quite as low. Mayweather continued to clinch whenever Chavez got in too close, but both also landed a few more punches before the round was out. (Lederman also scored this round for Mayweather.)

ROUND THREE – The round started with Mayweather being warned for holding. Though Mayweather clinched a couple more times at the beginning of the round, both fighters began to land a lot more as Mayweather wasn’t moving around the ring quite as much as he had in the previous two rounds. Mayweather was mostly jabbing though; he probably remembered those hard left hooks he could be hit with when throwing his right. Mayweather was deducted one point for low blows. (Lederman again scored the round for Mayweather.)

ROUND FOUR – Mayweather got in a few punches at the beginning of the round. At about a minute in, Chavez landed a flush right, to which Mayweather responded with some clowning. However, he didn’t really take the situation so light-heartedly because he clinched again as soon as Chavez came in. He got in some jabs from the outside, though, again holding Chavez off with his hand or clinching whenever he came in. After an exchange in the last minute, Mayweather was warned for a low blow. Then at the end of the round, he was holding onto Chavez’s arm, refusing to let go even when the referee was separating them. Fortunately, the bell rang and the round was over. (HBO PunchStat showed Chavez as so far having landed 67 punches out of 152 thrown, Mayweather as 92 out of 241. Lederman scored the round for Mayweather.)

ROUND FIVE – Chavez came running out of his corner to batter Mayweather at the beginning of the round for the first half minute until a scared-looking Mayweather finally clinched with him. They began trading again, Chavez getting the better of the exchanges and Mayweather clinching again when he could, despite all the previous warnings by the referee. When not clinching, Mayweather continued to land a few decent punches through the rest of the round, but he was mostly on the defensive while the more aggressive Chavez was doing most of the scoring. (This is the first round Lederman scored for Chavez.)

ROUND SIX – The round started off with more boxing. Though Chavez was the more aggressive early on, Mayweather soon started getting his jab out and landed a solid cross which prompted Chavez to do some clowing as Mayweather had done earlier. Chavez remained the aggressor, though, as Mayweather again started clinching whenever he got too close. By the end of the round, Chavez was throwing less as he was probably a bit tired from all his work earlier in the fight, but the battered Mayweather was throwing even less. (Lederman scored this round for Mayweather.)

ROUND SEVEN – Mayweather was not very aggressive this round. Most of the time Chavez pursued him, relying on his left and trying to work on the inside. In the last minute, Mayweather lost his balance once and looked to be very tired but was still landing occassional good blows. Just before the round ended, a real fight finally broke out that continued just after the bell until the referee and Mayweather’s trainer Jesse Reid pulled them apart. (HBO PunchStat now had Mayweather’s total numbers as 148 out of 402. Lederman scored this round for Chavez.)

ROUND EIGHT – Sometime in the first minute of the round, a small cut opened up on Mayweather’s left eyelid. Chavez also had a slight cut on the bridge of the nose. Both the fighters were slowed down and throwing less now, but perhaps landing more because their defense was also a little slowed down. Halfway into the round, Mayweather tried to do some showboating–dancing with a sloppy flurry that soon turned into a clinch. When the referee was finally able to get them apart, he called time to have the fight doctor check the cut, but Mayweather was able to continue. In the last minute, they were trading and landing clean punches, though none visibly affected the other. Mayweather held onto the ropes with one hand for a few seconds while hitting Chavez and was warned by the referee. After the bell, he was still throwing punches to the referee’s dismay but then embraced Chavez before returning to his corner. (Lederman scored this round for Chavez.)

ROUND NINE – Both fighters missed a lot of punches at the beginning of this round, giving them a short rest at least from getting hit. Halfway into the round, Chavez finally landed a few good punches, to which Mayweather didn’t respond until a distance away. Mayweather tried to stay in close to Chavez to keep him from getting good leverage on his punches, and then clinching when necessary. In the last minute, Mayweather landed a combo while Chavez had his back to the ropes, but he was mostly focused on defense rather than offense. He was clinching once again when the bell rang. (Mayweather threw only 44 punches this round. Lederman scored the round for Chavez.)

ROUND TEN – Mayweather started off at a distance again, moving around and sticking out his long jab to keep Chavez from getting to him. This seemed to be working for the first half of the round, but he then found himself occassionally against the ropes and having to clinch Chavez while taking a few hard shots. (HBO Punchstat showed Chavez as landing 24 of 52 punches this round, Mayweather 12 of 39.) Mayweather did not come out of his corner after this round, giving Chavez the TKO win.

FINAL PUNCHSTAT – Mayweather landed 195 out of 543 punches thrown (36%). Chavez landed 238 out of 537 (44%).

Location: Inglewood, California
Venue: Great Western Forum
Scheduled: 12 Rounds
Title: WBC Junior Welterweight
Referee: Henry Elespuru
Judge: Franz Marti
Judge: Chuck Hassett
Judge: Tomotsu Tomihara
Timekeeper: Aaron Koslo
Physician: Dr. Bernhardt Shwartz
Physician: Dr. Robert Karns

Promoter: Don King
Broadcast: HBO
Announcer: Jimmy Lennon Jr.
Commentator: Larry Merchant
Commentator: Jim Lampley
Purse: $750,000+