Undefeated light middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (37-0-1, 29 KOs) will be looking to make a statement against Matt Vanda (39-7, 22 KOs) on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Chavez Jr., 22, the son of boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez, is hoping to look better than he did last time out against Vanda, a fight that turned out to be a grueling 10-round split decision victory for Chavez and one where he hardly impressed. In this case, Chavez had the excuse that he was sick with the flu, which, according to him, prevented him from fighting at his best against Vanda.
It’s unclear, however, why Chavez chose to fight Vanda while sick with the flu. Perhaps the smart thing would have been to cancel the bout rather than perform badly as he did. In fairness to Chavez, it’s hard to blame him though. Up until that fight, he had done relatively well against the fodder that had been served up to in his previous 37 fights, building up an impressive unbeaten record with zero quality opponents. Vanda, 30, a good C-level fighter, was figured to be slightly better than some of Chavez’s recent mediocre opponents. However, whether it be the illness that affected Chavez on that night, or the fact that he’s not much better than Vanda, it’s hard to say for sure.
It would probably be a mistake, a big mistake to assume that Chavez looked so bad merely because of an illness, given the fact that he’s also looked quite pedestrian against other less than top notched opponents in his career, showing a problem with his work rate, aggression and most noticeably, his defense. He started off well against Vanda in the early rounds, but quickly faded by the 5th round and began to get hit quite often by the light-hitting Vanda. Lucky for Chavez, he wasn’t fighting someone with power, because he would have likely been beaten badly.
After the 5th round, Vanda began to land more and more, while Chavez seemed to be unable to pull the trigger with any kind of regularity. If this was the only fight that Chavez had showed issues with work rate, I could somehow excuse it as an aberration, possibly a result of his illness. Yet Chavez has had a low work rate for quite awhile now, and this fight was more of the same along those lines. The main difference here, as far as I can see, was that Vanda didn’t flop over like most of Chavez’s low quality opponents had done previously.
In the end, Chavez was forced to fight for a long 10 rounds, something he’d done very seldom in his 37 fights, and it looked to have taken all the energy out of him. On Saturday, he’ll probably have just as much of a problem with Vanda, who will take his shots without any problem and keep firing back. I see Chavez winning the bout, because Vanda doesn’t have much power and won’t be able to land as hard as he will be.
However, Chavez probably won’t be impressive and will just a little bit better than Vanda. The win, whether good or bad, will let Chavez move onto fighting more of the same kind of opponents that he’s been fighting his entire career. I don’t see that changing for the time being.
Haye ready for ‘dangerous Barrett’
Speaking to Steve Bunce on Setanta Sports News Haye said that he is ‘fighting someone who’s very dangerous’.
“This guy has taken big shots from big fighters. I’ve got a few butterflies in my stomach. I have to bring my ‘A’ game or there’s no tomorrow.
“Before the Maccarinelli fight, although it was a big fight, I knew that it was just a matter of me clipping him on the chin and the fight was over. That was in the back of my mind because he wasn’t on my level.”
With the fight just over two weeks away Haye is all too aware of the threat posed by Barrett. He told the fans to expect ‘a toe-to-toe war from the start’.
“This guy is coming thick and fast. He’s had three spectacular knock out victories and he’s looking to upset everybody at the O2. I can’t let that happen.
“He’s been in the ring with Wladimir Klitschko and Nikolay Valuev. He’s been in there with the biggest guys in the world and he sees me just as a cruiserweight coming up. He’s not going to lose any sleep over me.”
Fagan out to cause Khan upset
Dublin born Lightweight boxer Oisin Fagan has been confirmed as Amir Khan’s next opponent. The bout will take place at the ExCel in London on Saturday 6th December and will be Khan’s first fight since he was knocked out by Breidis Prescott in September.
Speaking to Setanta Sports News Fagan believes that Khan has just one thing on his mind.
“If I’d just got knocked out in the fashion that Amir did, that would be all I could think about. He must have nightmares about that every second of the day.
“I’m thinking that anytime he gets a good dig on that chin he has to be thinking about that knock out.”
Looking ahead to the clash Fagan added that he can put Khan under pressure and go for the win.
“I’m not a power puncher but I give everybody a good go. I’ve fought world champions and I’ve been unlucky not to end up with a win.”