Chavez vs. Gomez: Will Julio get beaten before he gets his shot against Pacquiao?

By Boxing News - 10/21/2010 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: WBC Silver middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) defends his title against welterweight Alfonso Gomez (2-4-2, 11 KO’s) on December 4th at the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California. Chavez, perhaps to ensure that he doesn’t get beaten, has been matched against a welterweight instead of someone from the middleweight division. Gomez will be coming up in weight two entire divisions to challenge the 24-year-old Chavez Jr. for his obscure title belt, which the WBC created recently for some reason. Chavez Jr. is hoping to get a shot against fellow Top Rank fighter Manny Pacquiao in 2011, which is one of the reasons why Chavez decided not to go to the Philippines to spar with Pacquiao.

Chavez Jr. didn’t want to give Pacquiao a look at his fighting style in case he gets the chance to fight him by their mutual promoter Bob Arum. Gomez, 29, is one of those in between fighters that are partially world class and partially in the 2nd tier. If the welterweight division only had one sanctioning body instead of four, Gomez would be in the 2nd tier and not a top level. He’s lacking in speed, power, foot movement and defense. With his mediocre punching power and absence of speed, he’s perfect Chavez.

Gomez is like the welterweight division’s version of middleweight John Duddy. Chavez Jr. finished easily beating the weak punching and slow Duddy by a lopsided 12 round decision in his last fight in June. Chavez should be able to do the same thing with Gomez. However, you can’t be certain because Chavez has looked so terrible against other B level fighters in the past. Chavez Jr. is more of a B level fighter himself in the middleweight division.

He’s ranked high, but in terms of talent compared to the better fighters division, Chavez Jr. is more of a lower ranked fighter. His name is what makes him so valuable. Until he suffers his first defeat, he’ll be able to sell tickets because of his famous father’s name. The Chavez-Gomez fight card goes for $44.95. For that money, you get the following fights on the undercard: Humberto Soto vs. Urbano Antillon, Nonito Donaire vs. Volodymyr Sydorenko and Brandon Rios vs. Noe Bolanos.



Comments are closed.