By Yannis Mihanos: In this article I will speak specifically about two famous Mexican fighters Saul Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Starting from the younger one, Canelo a natural middleweight, he prefers to fight in lighter divisions, going down the scales and going up in the day of the fight. It seems that he has developed a science over it in dehydrating to fight at lower weights. Virgil Hunter, the trainer for Amir Khan, joked about it in an interview with HBO’s Max Kellerman and said that he would so much wish to be a fly on the wall and watch how Canelo rehydrates all this weight back.
There is no question that as long as Canelo continue holding that weight advantage, only few will stand a fair chance in beating him ever.
Julio Chavez Jr began his career in a similar fashion, fighting against opponents lighter than him.
With so famous surname the expectations quickly grew. After an unbeaten run, Julio got his big chance to face one of the best in the face of Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez in 2012. That was a fight that could have taken Chavez Jr. to the next level. At the level where his father usually was. In that fight, Sergio Martinez moved fast and defended smart and at times bruised the heavier and bigger Chavez Jr. in the face and in the body. The only defining moment for Chavez Jr. came when Martinez finally lowered his defenses and let the 12th round become a brawl, at that time Julio exercised his big weight advantage and even managed to knock Martinez down, but it was a bit too late, Martinez like a big champion got up and the fight after a few seconds ended.
After that fight Chavez Jr. lost his way to the top. He was disqualified for one year from the sport after testing positive in forbidden substance. His confidence was ruined and his weight went out of proportion.
Out of training many times and constant lack of discipline lead him into swapping middle weight division for heavier one.
One that could fit and match his big weight size. The choice of again melting down became an impossible task.
By losing his weight advantage over his opponents it seems that he has now became a more ordinary fighter .
Now his opponents (Bryan Vera and Andrzej Fonfara) could brawl against him, push him into the ropes and at times even knock him down and of course give him the bitter taste of defeat , all things that never happened before.
Unfortunately, the burden of following his legendary father’s steps except from the beginning of his career hasn’t helped.
In a short amount of time Chavez jr will fight again but nobody seems to be interested, his coach Freddy Roach assures everybody that Julio is punctual and consistent but the fact remains that his biggest asset the weight is now gone.
In boxing, each and every element play its own important role, some fighters are good in mind games, some are confident with their skills and work and some are just confident with their size. When any of it is at play a fighter has the upper hand, but when it’s not, a fighter becomes average and vulnerable.
Chavez is at a downhill path at the moment while Canelo continues going upwards, in both of these fighters’ weight has played a major role in their careers.
Any element if used right can become a weapon in boxing, it can also turn as a boomerang when it is not used as it is supposed to.