By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-1-1, 32 KOs) closed the door on him fighting WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin for his next fight after next Saturday’s fight against light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) in saying that he wants to fight super middleweight champion Carl Froch.
Chavez Jr. says that Golovkin needs to fight other opposition to make him name known, and he thinks that he should either move up to 168 or 175 in order to find more fights. One name that Chavez Jr thinks that Golovkin should fight is IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. That’s a fight that Chavez Jr thinks Golovkin needs to take to build up his name and popularity before he faces him. Further, Chavez Jr says that Golovkin should try and fight the winner of tonight’s fight between WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee and Peter Quillin.
Chavez Jr seems to have changed his mind about wanting to fight Golovkin. Chavez Jr recently said that he thought that Golovkin was nothing special, and that he was interested in fighting him. Chavez Jr said via Fighthype.com “I put one million dollars. He, Golovkin, put a million dollars too. He, Golovkin, knock me out, he wins the two million, but he win a decision or I win a decision, then nobody wins the money.”
It looks like Chavez Jr is no longer interested in fighting Golovkin. It’s not surprising because even Golovkin didn’t think Chavez Jr was serious about wanting to face him when he mentioned fighting for $2 million. Golovkin saw it as a joke.
“You (Golovkin) need to beat more opposition. He need to beat other stars, like the winner of Andy Lee/Peter Quillin,” Chavez Jr said via Fighthype. “Or come to 168…he tell the press he beat Kovalev in the gym…why don’t he fight Kovalev.”
It would be a good fight if Golovkin were to face the 6’1” Kovalev, but it would
likely have to take place in the light heavyweight division due to Kovalev’s size. Kovalev probably wouldn’t be able to melt down enough in weight to face Golovkin at super middleweight. Even if they fought at a catch-weight, we’re probably talking about Kovalev only melting down to the low 170s. Kovalev would likely enjoy at least a 10 to 15 pound weight advantage over Golovkin if they were to fight. He would also have a three inch height and a two and a half inch reach advantage. That’s not a huge advantage. Golovkin would have to walk through a lot of big shots from Kovalev in order to beat him, but it’s possible that he could if he were to make it an inside fight. Kovalev is a lot better from the outside than he is from the inside, so Golovkin would have a clear advantage over him if he could smother his offense.
Asking Golovkin to move up two entire divisions just so he can prove himself is a bit much. Chavez Jr is technically moving up one division in his catch-weight fight against Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) in their catch-weight fight at 172 pounds on April 18th at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. If Chavez Jr were to practice what he preaches by going up two entire divisions, he would be fighting at cruiserweight and would have to face the likes of Marco Huck and Denis Lebedev if he were to face some of the best fighters in the cruiserweight division. I don’t think for a second that Chavez Jr could beat either one of those fighters. Even the top contenders at cruiserweight like Rakhim Chakhkiev and Thabiso Mchunu would likely do a number on Chavez Jr. It doesn’t seem fair that Chavez Jr is asking Golovkin to move up two entire divisions in order to face the best fighter in the light heavyweight division in Kovalev when Chavez Jr isn’t doing the same thing with his career by moving up to cruiserweight.
Fighting Fonfara at light heavyweight isn’t a big deal because he’s far from the best fighter in the division. If Chavez Jr were to face Kovalev, Artur Beterbiev or Adonis Stevenson, then you could say that he was showing a lot of courage. But a fight against Fonfara is only showing that Chavez Jr is playing it safe with his career right now because Fonfara is an easy to hit, up right fighter without much in the way of hand speed. Fonfara is tailor made for Chavez Jr, and definitely a beatable guy.
If Chavez Jr is going to give Golovkin advice in the guys that he needs to face for him to become popular enough for him to fight him, then Chavez Jr should be willing to fight the same guys, and obviously we’re not seeing that.
Golovkin is open to fighting some super middleweights like Carl Froch, but that’s not a fight that has been offered to him. Froch doesn’t seem to be interested in the fight with Golovkin because he wants Chavez Jr. The one fighter from the 168 pound division who would likely face Golovkin is WBA champion Andre Ward, but Golovkin’s handlers don’t appear to want that fight.
Some boxing fans would point out that Chavez Jr’s own experience is rather slim terms of big fights. He’s not exactly someone who has a lot of room to talk when it comes to him giving advice to other fighters like Golovkin to push them to face better known opposition. When you look at Chavez Jr’s resume for his 12-year pro career, he’s not really faced anyone that you can call a big name other than Sergio Martinez, who easily beat him by a 12 round unanimous decision. Here are the biggest names that Chavez Jr has fought during his career: Sergio Martinez, Marco Antonio Rubio, John Duddy, Andy Lee, Brian Vera, Sebastian Zbik, Peter Manfredo Jr, Matt Vanda, Jason LeHoullier, Billy Lyell and Carlos Molina. The only big names on Chavez Jr’s resume is Martinez and possibly Lee. I don’t see Lee as a big name though. Even Martinez isn’t really a big name in the United States aside from the hardcore boxing fans.
You can make an argument that Chavez Jr is mainly popular due to his famous father Julio Cesar Chavez. With a famous father like that, it explains why Chavez Jr didn’t have to fight a lot of big names for him to build up a big name and a large following. Chavez Jr had the fans when he turned pro simply because of his name.
Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs) will be fighting next month on May 16th against Willie Monroe Jr (19-1, 6 KOs) in a fight at the Forum in Inglewood, California. It’s not a great fight and it won’t do much in increasing Golovkin’s popularity with the casual boxing fans.
As for Golovkin fighting the winner of the Lee vs. Quillin fight tonight, I think the chances of that happening are nonexistent. It’s just not going to happen. If Lee wins tonight, he’ll either face his WBO mandatory challenger Billy Joe Saunders next or possibly WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. Lee isn’t going to face Golovkin because it’s not a big enough fight for him to want to bypass the Saunders bout. The only guy that could get Lee to steer around Saunders is Cotto, and I doubt that Cotto will want to fight Lee.
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