Chavez Jr. Defeats Vanda, Still Looks Unimpressive

By Boxing News - 11/03/2008 - Comments

chavez3235.jpgBy Manuel Perez: Looking closer to a C-level fighter than an top ranked A-level fighter, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (38-0-1, 29 KOs) defeated journeyman Matt Vanda (39-8, 22 KOs) by a one-sided 10-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 99-91, 97-93 and 98-92, all for the still unbeaten twenty-two year-old Chavez Jr. Vanda, who probably should have been given a draw, if not a victory against Chavez in their first fight four months ago in July, failed to fight as hard as he did in the first bout.

I’d really like to give Chavez more credit this time out, but he fought largely the same way, staying on the outside, circling the ring constantly and treating the light-hitting Vanda as if he were a knockout artist rather than a fighter with only marginal power at best. It looked strange to see Chavez constantly moving away from him, as if Vanda was coming after him with devastating power. To be sure, Chavez did what he had to do to get the win. He was a little busier than he normally is, throwing hard body shots and jabbing well to the head of Vanda.

However, in terms of his current ranking, which is number #8 in the World Boxing Council light middleweight division, Chavez looked to be badly inflated in regards to his actual skills. I find it hard to imagine him being better than Joe Greene, James Kirkland and Zaur Baysangurov, who he’s currently ranked ahead of in the division. In fact, I see at least four other fighters that should be ranked ahead of Chavez. I’d give Chavez very little chance of beating any of them if he were have to fought them on Saturday rather than Vanda. Luckily for him, it was only Vanda, and he can continue with his unbeaten record for a little while longer, prolonging his unblemished record.

Vanda did little in any of the first ten rounds of the fight, as he slowly followed after Chavez, unsuccessfully trying to cut off the ring. He seemed as if he wasn’t trying all that hard though. In comparisons to his first fight with Chavez, Vanda seemed to be fighting at only half speed for the entire bout until the 10th, when he went after him with some fire. In the last round, Vanda landed well with both hands and had Chavez on the run. However, it was a case of too little, too late for Vanda, who needed a knockout to win the fight by that point.

Chavez didn’t finish strong, choosing to run out the clock rather than trying to make a statement by going for the knockout. It’s sad that he didn’t, because after his last fight, which I thought he lost, Chavez needed an impressive showing to try and erase doubts in boxing fans’ minds about his questionable talent. For me, he didn’t do nearly enough for me to consider him much more than a B-class fighter.

In the end, he beat Vanda, but not well enough for me to consider him as having the talent to defeat fighters like Kirkland, Alfredo Angulo or Sergio Martinez. I see all of them easily defeating Chavez. However, at 22, Chavez is young enough to wait most of them out, and perhaps make a stab at a title in his last 20s, or maybe 30s. By then, most of them will probably be at the end of their careers, giving Chavez a chance at whoever is left.



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