Chavez Jr. beats Reyes, but looks really poor

By Boxing News - 07/19/2015 - Comments

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr vs Marco Reyes

By Dan Ambrose: A cruiserweight sized Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs) used his considerable weight advantage over the much smaller middleweight Marcos Reyes (33-2, 24 KOs) tonight to win a very unimpressive 10 round decision at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.

The fight was very close, but the judges had it by wide scores that made little sense. Chavez Jr. must have been near 190 tonight because he looked absolutely huge out there compared to Reyes. The thing is Reyes weighed in at 168 at the weigh-in on Friday, but he looked to be just a little heavier than that. But Chavez Jr. looked like he’d rehydrated 20 pounds. Reyes should have insisted on a rehydration clause in the contract to make sure that he wasn’t fighting a cruiserweight, because that’s what Chavez Jr. looked to be in the fight. I wish I could have stuck Chavez Jr. on a scale tonight because he looked as huge. Chavez Jr. had complained that his last opponent Andrzej Fonfara was too big for him, but I don’t think that’s the case. Chavez Jr. just wasn’t used to fighting someone that had his own size but more punching power. If Reyes had any power tonight, he would have done to Chavez Jr. the same thing that Fonfara did in making him quit on his stool after the 9th round.

Reyes outworked and out-landed Chavez Jr. in every round of the fight. It was even more pronounced in the later

The judges’ scores were ridiculous as far as I’m concerned. They scored the fight 97-92, 98-91 and 96-93. I had it very close for Chavez Jr., but only because he landed the harder shots and because he helped complain his way to getting Reyes docked a point in the 9th round for him accidentally banging heads.

I think Chavez Jr. needs to try and cash out with the biggest money fight he can get against the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Bernard Hopkins or one of the top super middleweights like James DeGale or George Groves. It’s too bad Carl Froch retired because that would be the perfect fight for Chavez Jr. to cash out with. He could then retire after getting a good payday fight, because I think Chavez Jr’s career is going to sink into the quicksand in the near future once he starts facing the top super middleweights.

I don’t understand why Chavez Jr. doesn’t want to fight in the light heavyweight division because he’s clearly not a super middleweight. As big as Chavez Jr. was tonight, he’s way bigger than the 168lb fighters. Chavez Jr. might not be interested in facing guys his own size in the 175lb division but that’s where he should be. Fighters in the light heavyweight division rehydrate into the 190s, which is what Chavez Jr. looked to be tonight.

I think he’s in denial about not wanting to fight in his true weight class. By fighting at super middleweight, Chavez Jr. can still have a weight advantage when he eventually starts fighting guys in that weight class. He still hasn’t fought a super middleweight yet. Since he moved up in weight in 2013, Chavez Jr. has fought three times against middleweights Brian Vera [twice] and Reyes, and then once at light heavyweight.

I think Chavez Jr. is going downhill as a fighter. When he fought John Duddy six years ago in 2009, he was a much better fighter back then. He wasn’t huge like he is now, and was capable of moving around the ring and throwing a lot of shots. Tonight, Chavez Jr. looked like he was laboring to throw more than 30 punches per round.



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