Alan Kindred: On Showtime tonite those of us who had a chance to witness a decent slugfest between Giovani Caro (13-7-4 (11) going in to the fight) vs Chris Avalos (11-0 (9) going in to the fight) without a doubt had to leave feeling impressed with Avalos one punch knockout power. Caro coming in was a tough matched veteran and held the Jr. Featherweight champion of Mexico as well as holding a FECARBOX title at Featherweight. It was a huge step up for Avalos who hadn’t fought anyone on Caro’s level tot hat point.. Avalos has only fought one fighter with a losing record in his career and hasn’t fought terribly weak opposition in his own right. Caro still however represented a tough step up and a great challenge for the 19 year old Avalos. The Showtimes announcers seemed a bit worried for the young Avalos thinking that he had bit off more than he could chew this early in his career.
The fight itself was a TV friendly slugfest with both fighters taking and giving bombs with out flinching in the beginning. As the fight progressed into the 4th round the judges actually had Caro slightly ahead on points. The fight continued with the bomb trading but with about a minute left in the round Avalos power began to take affect on the tough Caro leading up to a violent combination staggering Caro and then the huge right hand one punch kayo execution put Caro down and out for over a minute.
This fighter Chris Avalos reminded me a lot of the late Arturo Gatti & Diego Corrales in this fight. Thats not saying Avalos has earned anything yet. He does figure to be a lock as a popular TV fighter over the next half decade or so. He did seem to have a definite defensive weakness although his chin did hold up versus decent puncher Caro. The speed,aggression,combinations, and last but not least incredible power are also a definite plus for the young power house. Antonio Tarver stated on the telecast (doing guest commentary for Showtime) that he worries that a kid this young with this style might burn out to quickly and I agree with that assessment to a degree. Chris Avalos is young enough however to pull an Arturo Gatti like transformation and perhaps add some movement and boxing to his game to add some longevity to his career.
One thing is for sure and that is that Chris Avalos fights are gonna be must see TV. His management team seems to have him on the fast track having him fight a mexican national champion already. He withstood the usually bigger mans punches quite well I thought. He very well could be a future star in this sport. Keep an eye out for Chris Avalos !!!! He might be made out of a Corrales and Gatti cloth, god rest their souls.