Chavez, the current WBA lightweight champion, TKO’ed Buchanan (18-5-1) in the third round of this non-title bout.
THE OPPONENT – Vernon Buchanan of St. Louis, MO, was the Forum lightweight champion and twentieth in the WBC’s rankings. His last previous fight was a fourth round knockout by Primo Ramos one year earlier, but he said before this fight that he would knock Chavez out. Buchanan went on to have only three more fights before retiring in 1993.
ROUND ONE – Few punches were landed in the beginning of the round. Buchanan landed a good right to the head, but Chavez then landed his left hook to the body, from which Buchanan recoiled slightly. Chavez landed a few more good shots (mostly hooks) while Buchanan was running and recovering. Afterwards, both fighters traded jabs and then mixed it up with other punches. A stiff uppercut knocked Buchanan’s head upwards; they traded a few more punches before the bell.
ROUND TWO – Chavez blocked a few jabs, then landed a few hooks before getting hit by other jabs. Both fighters went inside to trade. Another left hook to the body hurt Buchanan just like in the last round. While he then tried to protect his body, Chavez pounded on him upstairs. Buchanan recovered, though, and landed some good punches of his own, working more while Chavez patiently awaited his next opportunity. He gets it with two more hard left hooks to the body and a right to the head. They were both exchanging hard blows. In the last half minute of the round, a left hook on the belt by Chavez prompts a warning from the referee for low blows.
ROUND THREE – At the beginning of the round, a straight right hurt Buchanan. He backed away from Chavez’s punches momentarily, but then recovered and landed some hard shots on Chavez. However, at the same time he was being battered by Chavez, and after being hit with a final left to the head, Buchanan stumbled to ropes with his hands up. Chavez had time to land a couple of final blows before Referee Chuck Hassett stepped in to stop the fight.
ALSO ON THE CARD – Wilfredo Vazquez lost a ten-round decision to Raul Perez. WBC bantamweight champ Miguel Lora defended his belt with a twelve-round decision win over Alberto Davila.
Location: Inglewood, California
Venue: Great Western Forum
Scheduled: 10 Rounds
Referee: Chuck Hassett
Promoter: Don King
Broadcast: KingVision / Prime Ticket
Ring Announcer: Jimmy Lennon Jr.