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Jesus Chavez's first title opportunity came against WBC Jr. Lightweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. where he was knocked out in the 9th round after an entertaining and close, competitive bout. He rebounded to win Mayweather's vacated WBC title, but lost it to then two time champion Erik Morales. In another exciting fight, Chavez rocked Morales early in the first round. Morales recovered and knocked Chavez down twice in the 2nd round, but Chavez came back and fought hard for the rest of the fight, despite having an injured hand. Morales pulled out a close decision, but Chavez gained further respect for his effort. In his next fight, he took on former IBF Champion Carlos Hernandez, who in turn had also lost his own title to Morales. In an exciting 12 round war, Chavez pulled out a close decision. He then moved up to the Lightweight division to take on IBF champion Leavander Johnson. In an unfortunate bout, Chavez outhusstled Johnson throughout the entire fight, beating him severely for the entire fight until the referee finally stepped in and ended it. Johnson died several days later when he went into a coma. Johnson's family has encouraged him to keep fighting, and Chavez will next take on three time champion Marco Antonio Barrera on March 25, 2006 in an HBO World Championship feature bout.
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