Chavez Jr’s stock drops after he quits on his stool against Fonfara

By Boxing News - 04/20/2015 - Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfN-6LPG0Js
By Dan Ambrose: Last Saturday night former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-2-1, 32 KOs) quit on his stool following the 9th round in his fight against light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara (27-3, 16 KOs) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Chavez Jr. had been knocked down in the 9th by a short left hook by Fonfara that Chavez Jr. appeared not to be expecting. And while Chavez Jr. got back to his feet and did an admirable job of surviving the remaining seconds of the round, he ended up quitting on his stool after the round had ended.

Chavez Jr’s trainer Joe Goosen was in deep discussion after the round and Chavez Jr. could be heard saying “Stop it, I’m done. Stop the fight. Stop it. Stop it. I want it stopped. It’s my leg. My legs bothering me. Stop it.”

It’s unknown what was bothering about Chavez Jr’s legs. Perhaps he was tired from the exhausting fight. The boxing fans at ringside were clearly unhappy with the stoppage with many of them booing loudly and throwing water bottles into the ring. Luckily, Chavez Jr wasn’t hit by any of the flying bottles. That would have been a terrible way of capping what was already a horrible night for the 29-year-old Chavez

“Finally watched Chavez Jr.-Fonfara this a.m. Excellent fight from Fonfara. Not so much for Chavez. He flat out quit. Chavez-Fonfara #boxing,” Dan Rafael of ESPN said about the Chavez Jr. vs. Fonfara fight.

chavez555Chavez Jr’s father, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., wants him to move back down to 168 and start boxing more instead of slugging it out with his opponents.

“There are details that my child has to correct, and has to reconsider. We have to box more,” Chavez Sr. said via ESPN Deportes. “He is my son. I want only the best for him. I think it’s now or never, not because he is my son, but I see a lot of potential. He has to come down to 168 pounds. This weight [175], I never liked…you have to work harder, correct errors and strengthen commitment.”

I don’t know if Chavez Jr. will be any better at super middleweight than he was at the catch-weight of 172 that he fought against Fonfara. We’re only talking about 4 pounds of difference. If four pounds of weight was enough for Chavez Jr. to look this bad then I think he’s going to be in trouble when he moves down to super middleweight, because there are a lot of fighters at that weight that are faster than him and with excellent punching power. Chavez Jr. has slow feet, slow hands, and he doesn’t throw a lot of shots. He takes his time to work his way into throwing body and head shots. He can’t afford to do that in any weight class because guys now are going to follow the blueprint that Fonfara created by focusing on throwing a lot of shot punches with speed. Since it takes Chavez Jr. so long to setup his punches, his opponents can nail him repeated with shots while he gets in position to throw. Chavez Jr. is going to need to sacrifice power for speed and a higher punch volume. I’m not sure that Chavez Jr. has the engine to fight like that though. He seems to get tired and needs rest breaks in between throwing punches.

Chavez Jr’s adviser Al Haymon should look to make the biggest money fight that he can for Chavez Jr. while he can. If he waits too long, Chavez Jr. may suffer additional defeats and be useless in terms of being a money making fighter.



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