Chavez Talks of Retirement After Tszyu Wins by TKO

PHOENIX — Even Julio Cesar Chavez, the great Mexican warrior, had to admit the truth.

In a fight as one-sided as predicted, Kostya Tszyu defended his World Boxing Council super lightweight title Saturday night with a sixth-round technical knockout of Chavez.

Afterward, Chavez admitted his time had passed.

“It looks like it’s time for me to retire. It’s time for me to leave,” Chavez said in the ring after the fight.

Chavez, 38, held his ground early on, but Tszyu took control with constant left-handed jabs and an occasional strong right to Chavez’s face.

In the fifth round, Chavez slipped and fell, and moments later Tszyu opened a cut on Chavez’s forehead with a combination of four left-hand jabs and a right.

Despite the loud support of the crowd, Chavez was no match for the 30-year-old champion in the sixth round, as Tszyu knocked Chavez down with a right hand. Chavez, a six-time world champion in four weight classes, staggered to his feet and fought on.

But a moment later, Tszyu had him pinned to the ropes, pounding Chavez repeatedly, when referee Bobby Ferrara stopped the fight.

“The punch was not hard. It was just the timing,” Tszyu said.

The crowd booed loudly and threw objects at the ring, but it was obvious Chavez was finished.

“I have seen Chavez fight many, many times against many, many great fighters,” Tszyu said. “I would get into slow-motion in my head and I would know what he was going to do. I studied so hard.”

The fight had been seen as such a mismatch that Las Vegas bookmakers would not take bets on it.

“Chavez is a great warrior,” Tszyu said. “People know me now around the world because I fought a legend and won.”

Each fighter earned $1.25 million.

Promoters listed the crowd at 14,100, almost all of them emphatic Chavez supporters, who chanted “Cha-vez,” “Julio,” and “Mexico” early on.

Tszyu, who was born in Russia and then moved to Australia eight years ago, improved to 25-1-1 with 21 knockouts. Chavez, who has lost two of his last three fights, is 103-5-2.

In the main undercard fight, Hector Camacho Jr., 21, won a technical decision over Philip Holiday of South Africa. Referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight in the sixth round when Camacho elbowed Holiday, cutting him above the right eye. Weeks ruled the elbow was accidental and Camacho won the decision because he was ahead on the judges’ cards.

Camacho is 29-0 with 17 knockouts.

Holiday, who felt the elbow should have been called intentional, is 36-4-1.