Should Chavez Jr. Retire?

By Boxing News - 07/15/2008 - Comments

chavez5674683.jpgBy Manuel Perez: Still unbeaten, but with an image that is badly tarnished, light middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (37-0-1, 29 KOs) has some big decisions to make about his boxing career in the aftermath of his disappointing 10-round split decision victory over C-class fighter Matt Vanda on Saturday night at the Palenque De La Expo, Hermosillo, in Sonora, Mexico. Chavez Jr., 22, took major punishment in the bout, and was out on his feet in the 12th round after taking a series of big shots from Vanda. Strangely enough, the round appeared to end 6 seconds early as Chavez Jr. was backing up on weak legs and taking punishment from Vanda.

Although I personally felt that Chavez had won the fight, I saw it as being very close, and certainly not by the ridiculous scores of 100-90, a score which one of the judges ruled in Chavez Jr’s favor. Despite getting the win, however, Chavez Jr. needs to do some soul searching and decide whether boxing is the right career for him. After the fight just described, Chavez Jr. has to ask himself whether he wants to continue on with his career and face better fighters than Vanda, which at this point is almost a given due to his high #5 ranking in the WBC, or retire from the sport with his unbeaten record intact.

Let’s be honest, though, Chavez Jr. doesn’t stand a chance against any top 10 fighter, at least from what I’ve seen of him in his last five fights.

He’s struggled badly in most of his recent bouts against mediocre opposition, and if he were truly as good as his high ranking would indicate, then he would have been able to easily dispatch these lower class opponents. He hasn’t, though, and has taken a lot of punishment in each of the fights, just like he did earlier in his career in two classic wars with Carlos Molina, an average fighter at best.

When you look at Chavez Jr’s father, Julio Cesar Chavez, it’s hard to understand why he can’t be good like he was. Chavez Sr. made it look so effortless, attacking his opponents with an all out style, never tiring and always better than his opponent during his younger years. Chavez Sr. never had to struggle the way that his son has, as it seemed to come easy for him. With his son, however, he appears to have little of the same talent as his father, not the power, unrelenting attack, stamina or the ring smarts.

For whatever reason, Chavez Jr. hasn’t been able to emulate his father in any way, and at 22, it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll be able to improve enough to even come close to being as good as his father. I’d settle for him being half as good as him, but that doesn’t look as if it’s every going to happen. His supporters like to point out that Chavez Jr. hasn’t had an amateur career, and because of that, he is still essentially fighting the amateur portion of his career. That’s all well and good, but for an amateur he hasn’t shown to be a top talent or even close to being one.

What’s worse, however, is that he’s going to be forced to face a top fighter soon and when that happens, I see him losing by an ugly knockout. He certainly can’t continue fighting C-class fighters much longer without being dropped down in the rankings. Perhaps that’s what he’ll do, though. I doubt seriously that his handlers with let him be put in with a top contender or a champion after last Saturday’s bout, because he simply isn’t ready.

According to reports, Chavez Jr. was sick with the fever going into his bout with Vanda on Saturday, and that’s one of the reasons for his poor stamina in the later rounds of the fight. Okay, I guess I can buy that excuse, because he certainly looked badly fatigued by the 8th round. After the fight ended, he immediately went back to his corner and sat down, looking totally exhausted, sweating badly and barely able to look up.

His father, Julio Cesar Chavez, looked on, appearing not to know what to do. Who could blame him? Chavez Sr. had never had problems with his stamina in his career. In fact, his excellent conditioning, ability to punch constantly, was one of the factors that made him so good as a fighter. Chavez Jr. however, doesn’t appear to have inherited any of his father’s excellent endurance, and if he had, you would think it would be readily apparent at this early age of Chavez Jr.

I don’t really see any other option available for Chavez Jr. other than retirement. If he continues fighting, he’ll most certainly have to continue fighting lower level fighters if he expects to continue winning. For sure, he’s not ready – and doesn’t seem to be showing signs of improving – to face a top 15 fighter at this point. By virtue of his high ranking, he’s going to have to face a top fighter soon, or else risk slowly losing his lofty rankings. That’s the problem. If he fights someone now, he’ll get paid well, and obviously lose badly in the process. But if Chavez Jr. waits, hoping to improve on his many flaws, he’ll possibly never make it back to the top 15 no matter how many C-class fighters he beats.

Usually a fighter gets a chance to prove himself, and if they don’t do it, they don’t get other chances unless they beat another good fighter or two. In Chavez Jr’s case, I don’t think he’s capable of beating any good fighters other than the lower level ones he’s been facing up until now. More importantly, I don’t think he wants to be just an average fighter. He appears to genuinely want to be world class like his father was. I doubt he’ll be comfortable facing nothing but the easy fodder that’s been served up to him, and eventually he’ll ask to be put in with a top guy. When that happens, regrettably, I see him getting slapped down and taken out.

When the Mexican crowd started throwing bottles of water at Chavez Jr. last Saturday, I think this was a huge humiliating experience for him. It was as if they had turned their back on him, the fighter that they had come to see fight. I don’t know how he’s feeling now, but I imagine he’s not looking forward to fighting in Mexico again, perhaps afraid of something similar happening next time out if he doesn’t perform well. I think the bottle throwing was uncalled for, because Chavez Jr. had fought well in the first half of the fight and had done enough to get the decision victory.

I’m not sure why they were so upset, other than perhaps the disappointment that the fight was so close, and that one of the judges had a screwed up score of 100-90 for Chavez. He did the best he could given his talent level. If the crowd had done some research of Chavez Jr’s previous fights, they would have seen ahead of time that he’d probably have problems against Vanda. I knew he would, having seen many of his recent fights, and I didn’t see him being much better than Vanda.

So should Chavez Jr. retire? I think perhaps it’s the best thing for him at this point. If he needs the money, then yes, he should try to have a fight lined up with the light-hitting WBC champion Sergio Mora, who probably doesn’t have enough power to knock Chavez out, although I think he probably would. After he loses badly to Mora, and he gets a huge payday, then Chavez should get out of the sport. After a one-sided beating at the hands of Mora, he would have to start from scratch and it would take him awhile to work his way back into contention, and he would likely be expected to beat at least one good fighter along the way.

I don’t see that happening. Like I said, I don’t believe that Chavez Jr. has the talent to beat any fighter in the top 15, and that would be a tremendous obstacle for him in trying to work his way back up to another title shot. After all, the boxing public wouldn’t believe in him if all he’s faced is C-level fighters up to a fight with a champion, then after losing to the champion, he goes back to fighting more C-level fighters while trying to get another shot at a title.



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