By Dan Ambrose: After taking a beating at the hands of #4 WBC light heavyweight contender Andrzej Fonfara (27-3, 16 KOs) last night in their fight at a catch-weight of 172 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-2-1, 32 KOs) wants an immediate rematch against the 27-year-old Poland born Fonfara.
Chavez Jr. surprisingly believes that he was winning the fight at the time that he quit on the stool after the 9th round had ended. But Chavez Jr. appeared to win only the 4th round, and he looked hopefully outclassed in the other rounds of the fight. If Fonfara agrees to a rematch against Chavez Jr, he’ll have to face him at another catch-weight because that’s what Chavez Jr. wants.
Chavez Jr. says he wants a rematch against Fonfara at a catch-weight of 170, which is only two bounds lower than the weight they fought last night and two pounds heavier than the super middleweight limit of 168. Whether Chavez Jr. can get another fight against Fonfara will be up to his adviser Al Haymon, and of course Fonfara. He wants to fight a rematch against WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson, who beat him by a 12 round unanimous decision in 2014.
“I think I was winning the fight,” Chavez Jr. said when interviewed after the fight with Fonfara. “I think I won the fight. Our strategy was to work to the body, but the guy [Fonfara] was too heavy for me. He’s a great fighter. I want a rematch at 170. I think I need a rematch. I felt great, but this is a different weight. I tried to make my fight and go to the body, but this guy was heavy. I want a rematch. The guy is a good fighter. [I want to fight at] 170 because 172 is too much for me. I’m relaxed. I felt better after the knockdown. I’m a fighter. I can get my second wind by fighting for the fans. I lost but I want a rematch. I can lost or I can win, but I fight for the people.”
Haymon is likely going to want to steer Chavez Jr. towards winnable fights, or at least ones where he has a 50-50 chance of winning. Based on how bad he looked against Fonfara last Saturday, Chavez Jr. should avoid fighting him for the remainder of his career. His style is all wrong for him to beat a guy like Fonfara. For Chavez Jr. to defeat Fonfara, he’ll need to triple his work rate because Fonfara likes to throw a lot of punches, and he doesn’t worry about loading up on them like Chavez Jr. did. This means that Chavez Jr. will need to do a complete revamp of his offense. Instead of him working his way into position to get the most amount of power on every shots he throws, he needs to emphasize throwing punches at all times no matter whether his feet are in position to throw with power or not.
Chavez Jr. also needs to work on his hand speed so that he can throw quick shots. He’ll also need to stop lowering his head and burying it into the chest of his opponents while getting in position to throw body shots. Chavez Jr. would be better off if he focused more on fighting at medium to long distance, and forget about throwing all the body shots.
Comments are closed.