Chris John vs. Muhammad Alfaridzi
Chris John 126 lbs beat Muhammad Alfaridzi by KO in round 12 of 12
- Date: 1999-07-13
- Location: Indosiar Studio, Jakarta, Indonesia
- Referee: Machmud Junus
Chris John garnered his first championship belt. The day was a Friday and it was August 13, 1999. The venue was Indosiar Studio in Jakarta, and John was challenging former Indonesian featherweight champion, the late Muhammad Alfaridzi, for the vacant national feather title. The title was vacant because Soleh Sundava, the previous champion, had decided to go after the PABA belt.
John was just 18 years and was a student at Pancasila Senior High School in Semarang, in the Central Java Province. Alfaridzi was 23 years old.
They were two fighters with the same passion. John, with record 11-0 (4 KO) pursued his first title, since starting his career as pro boxer in 1998. He already beat two former national junior featherweight champions: Herry Makawimbang and Taji Atmojo. Alraridzi felt that he had to get back on track as fast as he could, after losing the Indonesian featherweight title to Sundava in early 1999.
The fight started at 11 pm. Alfaridzi start the fight quickly, rushing to John immediately upon hearing the first bell. A left-right combination from Alfaridzi kept John on his guard. John always started slowly in the beginning and Alfaridzi knew this. In one crucial moment, Alfaridzi pressed John on the ropes. His left-right combo and an uppercut put John down on canvas. John was wobbling as he got up. He beat the count but was far from fresh. Once again, an uppercut from Alfaridzi knocked John to the canvas, and once again he beat the count.
Hundreds of people in the studio yelled and clapped their hands for Alfaridzi. At the time, Alfaridzi was much more popular than John. Alfaridzi was former national champion in amateur and pro, while John had never been a champion in the amateurs and professionally. Alfaridzi was good-looking guy, well-mannered, always smiling to his fans, and had appeared in commercial advertisement. He came from Bandung, just 135 kilometers from Jakarta. John came from Semarang, almost 500 kilometers away to the east from the capital city.
John finished round one after rising from two knockdowns but his fans were worried. Nobody was sure he could finish round two, but the story after round one was very different. John fought more safely and from a distance. John keep moved around the ring to avoid Alfaridzi’s pressure. He used a stiff jab and sometime launched his straight right. Alfaridzi’s didn’t move his head, his arms were always down, and this made him an easy target for John’s punches.
Round after round, Alfaridzi continued to chase John, but his punches missed often because John refused to fight within his reach. As the rounds passed, Alfaridzi grew weary until in round eleven when disaster struck. In the middle of the round, John attacked Alfaridzi with combination of a jab, straight right, then a hook. Alfaridzi went down, but beat the count. Alraridzi down again in the last minute of round but like John in the first round, he beat the count. The one-minute rest between rounds was not enough to refresh Alfaridzi.
Alfaridzi, completely exhausted, bravely faced the last round, accepting his fate. Again, combination of punches decked Alfaridzi. He laid on his back close to his corner. The referee counted to ten and this time, Alfaridzi was unable to rise.