By Dan Ambrose: Mexican star Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs) was quick with the excuses last night in explaining why he looked so pedestrian against Marcos Reyes (33-3, 24 KOs) in winning a dull 10 round unanimous decision at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.
This was supposed to be a slam dunk victory for the 29-year-old Chavez Jr. It wasn’t supposed to be competitive at all. A weak-punching 2nd tier middleweight was found for Chavez Jr. to blast to smithereens in one or two rounds, and he failed to do so. What was interesting was how Chavez Jr. blamed his performance on him hurting his left hand, as if that would explain away how poor he looked all throughout the fight.
Chavez Jr. appeared to gas out starting in the 8th round, and he never got his second wind. He won the fight by the scores of 98-91, 97-92 and 96-93. If the fight was a 12 round affair, Chavez Jr. likely would have lost the 11th and 12th, and it would have the scores a lot closer.
“I feel good. I feel strong, but I hurt my left [hand],” said Chavez, who did not specify when in the fight he thought he injured it. “I think it’s broken. I don’t know. I’ll see the doctor. This guy is a good boxer.
When a fighter starts talking injuries after a poor performance like the one we saw from Chavez Jr. last Saturday night, it makes me highly suspicious. I can buy the excuses if Chavez Jr. had shined for 10 rounds, but for him to be blaming his poor performance on a hand injury, it comes off bad for Chavez Jr. It just looks like he’s trying to take the heat off of him for failing to dispatch a guy who the top super middleweights, and even the top middleweights, would have likely destroyed in the first couple of rounds. The fact that Reyes had a lot of moments in the fight where he punished Chavez Jr. with combinations to the head, it looks really bad for the 29-year-old.
At this point I have to say that I think Chavez Jr. is showing signs of being over-the-hill as a fighter. I think he was a talented fighter briefly six years ago when he was 23 and beating guys like John Duddy, but he’s aged in the last six years and I believe the combination of his weight gain and inactivity has taken away the ability that he once had earlier in his career. I never thought he was a world killer even at 23, but he had potential back then and was capable of moving around the ring and fighting hard for three minutes of every round.
“With all respect to Reyes, I think if I didn’t hurt my hand, I would have knocked him out,” Chavez Jr. said. “I connected with the best punches to the chin and to the body. I hurt him, but I couldn’t finish him because I hurt my hand. If he wants a rematch, whatever. He never hurt me.”
Even if Chavez Jr. did hurt his hand, he should have been able to move around the ring at a quicker pace, and he should have been able to use his right hand more. Chavez Jr. was barely throwing punches in many of the rounds. That couldn’t have been entirely due to his left hand being injured.
Chavez Jr. speaks of giving Reyes a rematch. Does he mean that he’s really interested in facing this guy again rather than moving forward with his career or is he saying that if he wants a rematch then ‘tough, it’s not going to happen.’? Chavez Jr. already fought a rematch against tune-up opponent Brian Vera in 2014 after winning a controversial decision over him in 2013.
If Chavez Jr. has to give another tune-up opponent a rematch in Reyes, then that doesn’t bode well for his career. It tells you that Chavez Jr. doesn’t have the kind of talented needed to beat 2nd tier fighters. If Chavez Jr. isn’t good enough to beat that level of opposition, then maybe it’s time that he retires from the sport. I’m all for Chavez Jr. looking for a cash out fight against the likes of Gennady Golovkin, but he needs to do it sooner rather than later before one of his 2nd tier tune-up opponents beat him.
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