PETER MANFREDO JR.

updated April 07, 2007

Peter Manfredo, Jr. was practically born in a gym with boxing flowing through his veins. His father, Peter Manfredo, Sr., is a former world kickboxing champion, who holds a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He also was a professional boxer for three years, 1989-92, and has trained fighters for more than 20 years. Manfredo's Gym is located in Pawtucket, RI.

Pete, Jr. skyrocketed in fame as a finalist in the first season of the highly popular television reality series, The Contender. Today Manfredo is one of the most recognizable boxers in the world because of the exposure he received on The Contender.

"Junior" first started boxing at the tender age of seven, competing in his first match as a nine year old. He had 165 amateur matches, highlighted by his Bronze medal winning performance at the 2000 Eastern Olympic Trials. He is the only boxer in New England history to receive the Outstanding Boxer Award at the Junior Olympics, Silver Mittens, N.E. Golden Gloves and N.E. Tournament of Championships.

Manfredo turned pro September 22, 2000, at the age of 19, and won a four-round decision against Steve Garrett (1-0) in his debut. Less than two years later, Peter captured the EBA light middleweight championship with an eighth-round TKO of Mike McFail (11-9-1), and he successfully defended his EBA title two months later, winning a unanimous 10-round decision against Charles Clark (14-11-1).

On October 2002, in front of his hometown fans at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Manfredo stepped up in class and registered a seventh-round TKO of former WBC & WBA light welterweight champ Frankie "The Surgeon" Randall (58-12-1), to capture the vacant IBU light middleweight crown. Randall was the first opponent to floor and defeat future Hall of Famer Julio Cesar Chavez.

Manfredo's 19th consecutive victory came at the historic Blue Horizon in Philadelphia with a sixth-round TKO of Leonard Townsend (37-15-1). He captured the NABO junior middleweight crown January 23, 2004 via a sixth-round of previously unbeaten Sherwin Davis (17-0, 11 KOs) in an ESPN2 co-feature at Foxwoods.

Later in 2004, Manfredo captured the NABO light middleweight title with a sixth-round knockout of previously unbeaten Sherwin Davis (17-0). He successfully defended his belt with a 12-round unanimous decision against future fellow Contender Anthony Bonsante (25-3-3) in Providence.

Manfredo was selected as a member of The Contender during the show's first season. He had to give up his NABO title to be in The Contender and then suffered his first loss as a pro in his 22nd pro fight to relatively unknown Alfonso Gomez (10-2-1) in the show's first bout. When fellow New Englander Jeff Fraza was medically disqualified from fighting, Manfredo was voted back on The Contender and he made the most of his second chance, defeating Miguel Angel Espino (DEC5), Joey Gilbert (9-0) and Gomez (12-2-1) in a rematch to qualify for the championship final worth $1-million to the winner.

Manfredo lost an eight-round unanimous decision (69-64, 68-65, 70-73) to unbeaten Sergio "The Snake" Mora (15-0) in the championship final at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Five months later, Manfredo was back in the ring against Mora in The Contender Special in front of 11,000 fans at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Mora (16-0) won a controversial eight-round split decision (77-75, 77-75, 75-77) in the much-anticipated rematch.

The day after a blizzard in Providence, Manfredo packed nearly 10,000-hometown fans into the Dunkin' Donuts Center for his main event match-up against his friend, one-time world title challenger and former WBC No. 1-rated super middleweight Scott "The Sandman" Pemberton (29-4-1), in "The Contender Special – East Coast." Manfredo had moved up two divisions from 154-pounds to his more natural fighting weight of 168lbs. and he never looked sharper, flooring Pemberton three times en route to a third-round TKO.

Manfredo's next battle was to be against hometown rival Joey "the KO Kid" Spina, who claimed to be the real Contender not Pretender after defeating Contender season one's Jesse Brinkley. On October 14th Peter stepped into the ring with Spina in "The Contender Special – Put Up or Shut Up" and again proved to be the real deal. Spina went down in the third round for the second time which ended the fight in a TKO. "I told everyone I was on a different level (than Spina). I never wanted to take this fight. I never wanted to hurt anybody from Rhode Island, but he kept running his mouth. He might have made his money, but he took the beating of his life."

Manfredo has gained invaluable experience sparring with former world champions, including "Sugar" Shane Mosely, "Ferocious" Fernando Vargas and "Irish" Micky Ward.

Peter married his high school sweetheart, Yamika, with whom he has two daughters, Alexis Marie and Mercedes Marie.

Manfredo, who is promoted by The Tournament of Contenders, managed by his father Peter Manfredo, Sr., and trained by Freddie Roach, is world-rated No. 7 by the World Boxing Organization, No. 8 by the World Boxing Council and No. 15 by the International Boxing Federation.