Chavez Wrests Mayweather’s Title : He Remains Unbeaten in 63 Fights With 10-Round TKO

Roger Mayweather couldn’t stand up because of stomach cramps. He couldn’t breathe because of the pain. He couldn’t see too well out of his left eye because of a bad cut.

And so, slouched on his stool, he sank his head into his hands and called it quits.

Mayweather-Chavez II had become No Mas II .

And Julio Cesar Chavez had become the World Boxing Council super-lightweight champion Saturday night at the Forum before an estimated crowd of 14,000. Chavez was declared the winner on a 10th-round technical knockout because of Mayweather’s inability to continue.

The cramps began in the seventh round, according to Mayweather.

“I wasn’t hurt bad,” Mayweather said, “but once the cramps took effect, I couldn’t do much. The pain got down to my liver and it got to the point where I couldn’t move. I would rather sit than stand there and be a target. Without legs, it’s pretty hard to move.”

Mayweather was behind on all three judges’ scorecards, 98-92 on two and 99-92 on the other. The Times had Chavez ahead, 97-92. Figured in were two points deducted from Mayweather by referee Henry Elespuru, one for a low blow in the third round and one for holding in the fourth.

But when Mayweather made the decision to call it a night two rounds early, his manager, Billy Baxter, wasn’t in total agreement.

“I urged him to get up,” Baxter said. “I didn’t see him winning the fight. I wasn’t sending him out to win. But I told him, ‘I want you to finish this for yourself. I want you to end this fight on your feet, not on the stool.’

“I knew Roger had already had two points deducted and I figured he was down two rounds anyway. That’s four points, where I come from.”

When Elespuru came over to the corner, the dialogue went as follows:

Elespuru: “What’s wrong?”

Mayweather: “Cramps”.

Elespuru: “What do you think about continuing?”

Mayweather: “I’m having a hard time standing up.”

End of discussion.

End of fight.

It proved to be a lot longer, however, than Mayweather-Chavez I. That was four years ago in Las Vegas when both Chavez and Mayweather were 130-pounders. That one ended on a Chavez knockout in the second round.

This time, both men weighed 140. At least, Chavez did--on the nose.

Mayweather came in at 138 3/4, and that might explain his cramps.

“Because I came in so light,” Mayweather said, “I took a lot of liquids during the day, and that may have caused my problem.”

Chavez caused a few problems of his own in improving to 63-0 with 51 knockouts. The 26-year-old native of Sonora, Mexico, is a four-time world champion. He previously won the WBC super-featherweight title and currently holds both the WBC and World Boxing Assn. lightweight titles in addition to the one he took Saturday.

And he says he plans to hang on to the lightweight titles.

“I can fight at both 135 pounds and 140,” Chavez said through an interpreter. “I want to lose both my titles in the ring.”

However, it was not vintage Chavez on display Saturday. He missed a lot of punches and didn’t look nearly as sharp as he has in previous bouts. There were no knockdowns, but Chavez seemed to hurt Mayweather several times.

“I wasn’t 100% for this fight,” Chavez acknowledged. “Psychologically I was not into this fight.”

He blamed his lack of concentration on the lawsuit filed a week ago by Azteca Promotions against Chavez and promoter Don King. The suit asks for $1.2 million, claiming that Azecta, not King, had the valid contract to stage this match.

Each fighter received $750,000 plus 37 1/2% of the live gate after expenses.

It was an emotional crowd, one of the largest for boxing in recent years at the Forum. But that emotion peaked after the seventh round, when the two fighters continued to throw blows after the bell, a common occurrence Saturday night.

This time, however, Mayweather’s corner got into the action. Trainer Jesse Reid, a former quarterback at Cal State Los Angeles, showed he had learned a thing or two from the defensive linemen who used to sack him, flying through the ropes to grab Chavez.

“Roger’s head was still up,” Reid said, “and Chavez was ready to hit him. I was not trying to hurt Chavez, but my fighter was pinned by the referee. I didn’t throw no punches or nothing. I was just trying to protect my fighter.”

Nevertheless, Elespuru walked over and told a ringside official, “I want him out.”

Reid was subsequently ejected and watched the rest of the fight on television in the locker room.

The crowd showered the ring with cups of beer and anything else available.

When it was over, Chavez declared he was ready to take on either Hector Camacho or Meldrick Taylor, the International Boxing Federation 140-pound champion. King said a fight with one of them is in the works for late summer.

As for the 28-year-old Mayweather, who is 34-6 with 23 knockouts, he will go home to Las Vegas to ponder his future.

“He’s got heart,” Baxter said. “It’s not easy to go out there and fight. There’s only a few guys who can do that.”

But sooner or later, even for those few, the time comes to call it quits.

For Mayweather, that time came on a stool in his corner Saturday night.