By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) will be squaring off against Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) this Saturday night in a PPV bout on HBO in Las Vegas, Nevada. Chavez Jr’s trainer Freddie Roach thinks that Martinez lacks the boxing skills and the experience to beat his fighter Chavez Jr.
Roach said “Sergio is a great athlete, but I don’t think he’s a great boxer. He doesn’t have the experience. I think we’ll [Chavez Jr] break him down and knock him out.”
It’s funny that Roach is bringing up a lack of experience when looking at Martinez’s resume, because you could say pretty much the exact same thing about his fighter Chavez Jr. He’s really not beaten anyone in the class of past Martinez victims Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams.
I’d had favored both Pavlik and Williams to beat every opponent that Chavez Jr. has ever faced, and without controversy. Chavez Jr. has four fights where you can say that he probably should have loss with his two fights against Carlos Molina, his first bout against Matt Vanda and his win over WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik. Williams and Pavlik would have had little problems beating those guys.
I rate Martinez’s boxing skills as far superior to Chavez Jr., who is a fighter that gets over more on his size than his skills. Martinez actually has excellent boxing skills going for him, and it’s hard to imagine why Roach is having a problem pointing out the obvious about him. Martinez has superb boxing skills, excellent speed and above average power. He’s also a southpaw.
I guess Roach doesn’t want to give Martinez any confidence by pointing out that he’s got exceptional skills, because he wants to keep his own fighter Chavez Jr. feeling confident about his chances of winning the fight.
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