Looking to rejuvenate his career, former “Contender” star and world title challenger Peter Manfredo Jr. has found a new weight class and a new promoter.
On Thursday it was announced that Manfredo has signed an exclusive promotional agreement with the Las Vegas based TKO Promotions, in hopes of landing a title shot as a middleweight.
“We’re very proud to be working with Peter as he works his way up the
middleweight rankings towards a championship bout. He’s been a world class
fighter for a long time and we’re very happy to add him to our growing
stable of outstanding talent” said Chet Koerner, president of TKO Promotions.
Manfredo began his career as a middleweight, but has fought in the 168 pound super middleweight division since 2006. As a super middleweight he challenged world champion Joe Calzaghe in 2007, losing via 3rd round TKO, and lost other notable 168 pound fights to Jeff Lacy and Sakio Bika.
More successfully, he dominated former title challenger Scott Pemberton en route to a 3rd round stoppage in 2006 and disposed of Rhode Island rival Joey Spina within three rounds as well.
Said longtime manager Larry Army Jr., “Peter feels great about competing at middleweight. He’ll be stronger at that weight and we’re very confident he’ll be successful. It’s a bit of a wide open division and we’re looking to move up in the rankings towards a world title shot against either Kelly Pavlik or Arthur Abraham.”
On his way down from 168 to 160 pounds, Manfredo most recently scored a highlight reel knockout against rugged veteran Walid Smitchet in April.
As previously reported on 8countnews.com, discussion are under way for Manfredo to fight unbeaten middleweight prospect Danny Jacobs on August 22nd on HBO. However, ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael has reported that Golden Boy promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez said he may need to find a new opponent for Jacobs due to a promotional dispute between Manfredo and Jimmy Burchfield, his former promoter.
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