Peter Manfredo

Infobox Boxer


name=Peter Manfredo
realname=Peter Manfredo
nickname=The Pride of Providence
weight=Super Middleweight
nationality=flagicon|USA American
birth_date=birth date and age|1980|11|26
birth_place=Providence, Rhode Island
death_date|=
death_place|=
style=Orthodox
total=36
wins=31
losses=5
draws=0
no contests=
KO=16|

Peter Manfredo Jr. (born November 26, 1980, Pawtucket, Rhode Island) is a professional boxer. He held the NABO Light Middleweight IBU Light Middleweight EBA Light Middleweight Although he regularly wears the Italian flag on his trunks to show his heritage, he is a representative of the US.Peter was practically born in a gym, with boxing flowing through his veins. The son of Peter Manfredo Sr., a former world kickboxing champion who holds a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and being a professional boxer himself, Manfredo Jr. grew up watching his father train and mentor boxers at the family’s gym in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Peter is promoted by Jimmy Burchfield Sr.'s Classic Entertainment and Sports.

Having started boxing at the tender age of seven, Manfredo Jr. competed in his first match at nine-years-old. He then proceeded to fight in 165 amateur bouts, including a bronze medal-winning performance at the 2000 Eastern Olympic Trials. Manfredo is the only boxer in New England history to receive the Outstanding Boxer Award at the Junior Olympics, as well as win the title for the Silver Mittens, the New England Golden Gloves and the New England Tournament of Championships.

Manfredo Jr. eventually turned professional at the age of 19 and in his debut , he won a four-round decision over Steve Garrett. Less than two years later, Manfredo . captured the EBA Light Middleweight Championship with an eighth-round TKO over Mike McFail. He went on to successfully defend his EBA belt two months later, winning a unanimous ten round decision over Charles Clark.In October 2002, in front of a packed arena of fans at the Dunkin Donuts Center in his hometown of Providence, Manfredo Jr. stepped up in weight class and won a seventh-round TKO over former WBC and WBA Light Welterweight champion Frankie “The Surgeon” Randall. Manfredo Jr.’s nineteenth consecutive victory came at the Blue Horizon in Philadelphia with a sixth-round TKO over Leonard Townsend. In January 2004, he went on to win the NABO Junior Middleweight title in a sixth-round fight against the previously undefeated Sherwin Davis in an ESPN2 co-feature at Foxwoods Casino.

In 2005, he entered reality tv show The Contender, and was placed on the East Coast Team. He was challenged to fight Alfonso Gomez in the first fight, and lost—much to everyone's surprise. But when Jeff Fraza was withdrawn with chickenpox, he was brought back in—by "fate" he said. He beat Miguel Espino in his second chance at the first round, and went on to face Joey Gilbert in the second round. Here, an accidental headbutt stopped the fight, and Manfredo was given a win on points. He then was re-matched up with Gomez, whom he beat, in the semi-final. A final against Sergio Mora awaited. He lost—his second career defeat.Manfredo fought a second bout scheduled with Sergio Mora on October 15, 2005 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Many ringside observers felt Manfredo won the fight convincingly, but Mora won by a controversial split decision.

Manfredo fought Scott Pemberton on February 2, 2006 to a sold out crowd in the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island on ESPN. It was his first fight at Super Middleweight, as he won by a dramatic 3rd round knockout. On October 14, 2006 Manfredo defeated Joey Spina with an impressive 3rd round TKO also at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.

On April 7, 2007, Manfredo fought Welsh undefeated Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe in Calzaghe's 20th title defense. The fight was originally scheduled for March 3, but had to be re-arranged for the later date. The show, from the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff was aired on HBO in the United States. Manfredo lost the fight when the referee stopped the contest in the third round, with Manfredo appearing unable to reply to Calzaghe's unending barrage of shots. Manfredo claimed his plan was to have Calzaghe "run out of gas", with Calzaghe being 34 years old at the time. Manfredo himself believed that the fight was stopped prematurely. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=boxing&id=2829656 ESPN - No Hollywood ending for The Contender star as referee stops fight - Boxing ] ] . One month later Manfredo easily defeated Ted Muller in a ninth round stoppage at Twin River Casino in Lincoln Rhode Island.

Peter Manfredo's next fight was June 20, 2007 just one month after his previous victory over Muller, at Foxwoods Hotel and Casino, located in Southern New England against tough veteran (14-1) David Banks, who was featured on season 3 of the Contender. Manfredo got the relatively easy decsion 97-93 on all the judges cards. Manfredo then signed to fight former World Champion Jeff Lacy on December 8 at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, as the final bout on the undercard to the Floyd Mayweather vs Ricky Hatton main event. Manfredo lasted the distance against Lacy, but lost by unanimous decision. Emanuel Steward said "If his punches were just a little crispier, he might have pulled off the upset"

On March 14, 2008, Manfredo took several verbal jabs at up and coming underground rapper Miles from Nowhere(Mr. 309)from Peoria, Il. stating it was in defense to comments made about Sage Francis, a Providence native known for his spoken word. Later on that same date Manfredo Jr defeated Shane "Irish Hitman" Benfield (29-5) at the Twin River Events Center in Lincoln, Rhode Island. A series of attacks to the body from Manfredo eventually forced a stoppage after 2:30 of the sixth round. On May 3rd 2008 Peter defeated Luis Lopez by KO in the 3rd round at the Cour D'Alene CasinoIdaho.

On a CES card appropriately billed as “August Annihilation,” former title challenger Peter Manfredo, Jr. (31-5, 16 KOs) savagely annihilated Donny “Savage” McCrary (24-8-2, 13 KOs) by TKO at 1:24 of round two, on August 22nd at the Twin Rivers Events Center in Lincoln, R.I., winning the vacant NABF Interim super middlewieght belt. The win puts Manfredo as one of the top 5 Super Middleweights in the world. On November 13 Peter Manfrdedo will face season 3 winner of the contender Sakio Bika at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence Rhode island it will be a 10 round fight for the IBO title.

References

External links

* [http://www.manfredojr.com/home.html Manfredo Jr., The Official Site]
* [http://boxing.about.com/od/records/a/manfredo.htm Peter Manfredo Jr. Fight-by-Fight Career Record]
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* [http://www.manfredogym.com/ Manfredo Gym]
* [http://manfredo.labrute.fr/ French role play about Manfredo]