PHOENIX -- Julio Cesar Chavez announced his retirement
Saturday night following his loss on his farewell tour.
Chavez retired after the fifth round in a bout with journeyman
Grover Wiley.
The 43-year-old Chavez (107-6-2) of Culiacan, Mexico, lost the
10-round welterweight fight by technical knockout complaining of
pain in his right hand. Chavez's handlers said the hand was broken.
Wiley (29-7-1) of Omaha, Neb., said Chavez quit because he was
beating him.
"He can use all the excuses," said Wiley, 30. "They said it couldn't be done but we did it.
We beat him. We shocked the world."
Chavez was on the farewell tour to mark what was his impending
retirement. Promoter Bob Arum said Chavez told him he would not
fight again.
Chavez's 19-year-old son, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who was also
on the card, said he would avenge his father's loss and fight
Wiley.
The older Chavez seemed to have control of Wiley in the first
couple of rounds. But Wiley kept coming back after Chavez. In the
fifth round, Wiley twice used combinations to the head that
appeared to hurt Chavez.
As Chavez headed to his corner after the round, he looked at his
trainers and shook his head, indicating that he was done.
Chavez Jr. had little trouble stopping Corey Alarcon of Denver
at 1:35 of the second round in a non-title super lightweight bout.
Chavez Jr. (22-0) suffered a bloody nose in the first 30 seconds of
the bout but that was the only damage inflicted by Alarcon (12-11).
Chavez Jr. knocked down Alarcon late in the first round and then
again late in the second with an overhand right. The fight was
called after the second knockdown.
In the only title bout of the night, Jose Luis Zertuche of
Guanajuato, Mexico, scored a technical knockout over Jesus Gonzales
of Phoenix at 2:02 of the eighth round of the scheduled 12-round
fight for the Intercontinental Middleweight Boxing Championship.
Gonzales, who was 17-0, was knocked down by Zertuche (16-2-2)
near the end of the sixth round and twice in the eighth round.
After the last knockdown, the referee stopped the fight.
"I had to work hard," Zertuche said. "I knew he could hurt me
early. I waited for my chance."