Chavez Jr: I’m fighting Fonfara because I like big opponents

By Boxing News - 04/13/2015 - Comments

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: The 29-year-old Mexican star Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-1-1, 32 KOs) says he’s fighting light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) at a catch-weight of 172 pounds rather than Chavez Jr fighting someone from his own division at super middleweight because he likes to fight bigger fighters. Chavez Jr doesn’t care that Fonfara isn’t well known.The Chavez Jr vs. Fonfara fight will be televised on Showtime Championship Boxing on Saturday.

Chavez Jr still sees the 27-year-old Fonfara as a great opponent for his fight this Saturday on April 18th at the StubHub Center, in Carson, California, USA. Chavez Jr says he likes to fight at a heavier weight because he feels stronger, but he still feels like the 168 pound division is the right weight class for him. Interestingly enough, Chavez Jr still has yet to fight his first super middleweight opponent since moving up to the 168 pound division in 2013. In his last two fights, Chavez Jr has fought middleweight journeyman Brian Vera instead of a super middleweight.

Now we’re seeing Chavez Jr fight a light heavyweight at a catch-weight of 172 pounds. With the way that Chavez Jr is non-168 pound fighters, it makes you wonder how committed he is to fighting at super middleweight. It reminds one of how someone will say they’ve kicked a habit, whatever it is, yet they continue to do the same thing they’ve been doing. It seems like Chavez Jr would be better off just moving up to light heavyweight where he can fight guys his own size rather than dragging middleweights up to light heavyweight or light heavyweights down to 172 to fight him.

“I am fighting [Andrzej] Fonfara now because I like big opponents,” Chavez Jr said. I like the challenge of fighting good, hungry fighters. Just because Fonfara doesn’t have the name recognition of other fighters, it doesn’t make him an easy fighter. He’s tough.”

Fonfara was recently beaten by Adonis Stevenson by a 12 round decision in 2014. It was a fight where Fonfara took terrible punishment and wore Stevenson out by taking his best head shots for 12 rounds. It wasn’t very entertaining to watch due to the one-sided nature of the fight. Fonfara did score one flash knockdown, but other than that, it was like watching Stevenson hit a 6’2 ½” heavy bag for 12 rounds. Fonfara was just too slow, too upright, and too limited to be competitive with Stevenson.

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“I promise a great fight, this is a very exciting fight,” Chavez Jr said. “Fonfara isn’t an easy opponent, but he has never seen an opponent like me.”

It’s unclear where Chavez Jr is going to go next after the Fonfara fight. He’s talked about wanting to fight WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch in Las Vegas, Nevada, but it remains to be seen whether that fight can get made. If not Froch, then Chavez Jr will have to decide what he wants to do. He’s not really cut out for the super middleweight division because the top fighters, with the exception of the short 5’9” and slow Arthur Abraham would appear to be much too good for Chavez Jr. It would make sense for Chavez Jr to target Abraham except that he likely would have to wait ages before he eventually got a world title fight against the German based fighter. You can’t expect Abraham’s promoters to match Abraham against a hulking super middleweight like Chavez Jr. They’re not going to do that when they’ve got recognizable fighters to the German audience like Felix Sturm and Robert Stieglitz that they can match against Abraham again and again for the next two to three years.

Chavez Jr isn’t ranked in the top 15 by the World Boxing Organization, which means it’ll take him forever to get a shot against Abraham. The smart move for Chavez Jr would be for him to give up on the idea of fighting at 168 and instead fight where he’s comfortable at light heavyweight.

I think it’s a better weight for him because the fighters are slower in that weight class than they are at super middleweight, and Chavez Jr won’t have to drain himself as much to make the 175 pound limit. There are some good fights that Chavez Jr can get at light heavyweight against Stevenson, Artur Beterbiev and Sergey Kovalev. I can’t see Chavez Jr beating any of them, but it would still be interesting to see the fights. I can see Chavez Jr winding up as a good gate keeper type fighter at light heavyweight, but definitely not a champion.



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