Chavez Jr. lack of hand speed will hurt him against Sergio Martinez

By Boxing News - 07/29/2012 - Comments

Image: Chavez Jr. lack of hand speed will hurt him against Sergio MartinezBy Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) feels energized as he heads into his September 15th showdown with the middleweight division’s best fighter Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) in a fight that will be televised on PPV on HBO.

Chavez Jr’s recent wins has shot his confidence through the roof to where he feels he can not only beat Martinez but knock him out as well.

You can’t blame Chavez Jr. for having a big head right now because he’s picked up some decent wins over Peter Manfredo Jr., Sebastian Zbik, Andy Lee and Marco Antonio Rubio, Those are all contenders and Chavez Jr., with his huge 180 pound frame, he was able to crush them all.

However, there’s a couple of things that are different about those fighters and Chavez Jr’s upcoming fight against Martinez, and that’s the speed, mobility and the power that Martinez has going for him that those other fighters simply didn’t have. Lee, Rubio, Zbik and Manfredo Jr. don’t have quick hands. They’re all pretty slow and predictable in terms of hand speed and ring movements. None of them move around the ring like Martinez.

Zbik can move a little in a circle, but he’s not fast nor is he powerful. The other guys are just plain slow and stationary. They were perfect for Chavez Jr. The scout for Top Rank picked those guys out perfectly because they were guys that the slow moving, 180 pound Chavez Jr. could beat. However, the scouting done by Top Rank on Martinez is going to be a fail, because he’s simply too fast and powerful for the slow moving Chavez Jr, and things are going to go badly for him even if he bloats from 160 to 200 pounds after he rehydrates.

That weight won’t help Chavez Jr, because he’ll still be slow of hand and foot. He won’t be able to land his shots unless Martinez stands perfectly still and invites him in, which I don’t see happening.



Comments are closed.