Chavez Jr. vs. LeHoullier on July 25th

By Boxing News - 07/02/2009 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Unbeaten light middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (39-0-1, 29 KO’s) faces yet another second tier opponent in Jason LeHoullier (21-1, 8 KO’s) on July 25th, in the Latin Fury card at the Grand Mayan, Neuervo Vallarta, in Nayarit, Mexico. Chavez Jr., 23, is ranked high in the light middleweight division at number #3 in the World Boxing Organization and #4 in the WBC, even though he’s yet to face a top tier opponent.

Chavez Jr. Jr. has faced B and C level fighters exclusively since turning pro in 2003, but has still seen himself quickly pushed up in the rankings despite having zero victories over credible opposition. It was hoped that Chavez Jr. would face a top level fighter in his next fight in July.

However, in having LeHoullier, 31, selected as an opponent, it looks like more of the same spoon fed opposition for Chavez. In his last three fights, Chavez hasn’t looked good at all struggling to beat Matt Vanda twice, a decent 2nd tier fighter, and then beating Luciano Leonel Cuello by a narrow 10-round decision in March 2009.

Cuello, who looks nothing like a future champion, got the better of Chavez in the 2nd half of the fight and appeared to have done enough to get a draw out of the fight. The same held true in Chavez’s first fight with Vanda, a fight where Chavez faded badly in the 2nd half of the bout and appeared to get a 10-round draw at best.

Vanda looked to have done enough to win the fight, but found himself on the losing end to Chavez. While Chavez may continue to get the benefit of the doubt in narrow decisions over B-level talent, it’s not a good sign that Chavez isn’t being pushed to the edge by non-world class boxers.

Sooner or later, when Chavez is finally put in with a top tier fighter he’s going to have major problems. However, I doubt that Chavez will be put in with anyone world class until he’s given a title shot against one of the champions.

Right now, there’s probably not a popular enough champion in the light middleweight division for Chavez to cash out on his unbeaten record. I doubt that Sergio Martinez, Daniel Santos, Cory Spinks, Sergeii Dzinziruk or Paul Williams are big enough names for Chavez’s promoter to put him in there for what would be an almost guaranteed knockout loss for Chavez.

My guess is that they will wait until a really big name like Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Andre Berto or Kelly Pavlik are open to a fight with Chavez.

As for Chavez’s fight later on this month, he may find that he has some problems against LeHoullier, who barely lost a 12-round majority decision to Harry Joe Yorgey in August and fought to an eight-round draw with Jose Luis Gonzalez in March 2008. Both of those fighters are around the same level as Chavez, maybe a little better in the case of Yorgey.

The fact that LeHoullier fought them closely seems to suggest that Chavez will have some big problems against the 31-year-old LeHoullier unless he can somehow get lucky and take him out early. Most of Chavez’s knockout wins have come early against C-level opponents, so if LeHoullier can get past the 6th round without being knocked out, he has a good chance of outworking Chavez in the 2nd half of the fight.

I seriously doubt that LeHoullier would get the victory regardless unless he makes it so embarrassingly one-sided that the judges’ would have no other choice to give him the victory. Otherwise, I see Chavez getting another controversial 10-round decision victory.



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