By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) will have his father Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. as his trainer for his September 7th fight against Brian Vera (23-6, 14 KO’s) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
This should be an interesting experiment. If Chavez Jr. can actually listen to his father, and follow the directions, it’s possible that it could work between them. However, in HBO’s 24/7 episodes leading up to Chavez Jr’s fight with Sergio Martinez last September, Chavez Jr. seemed to tune out Chavez Sr. when he was trying to give him important advice.
Some of the things that Chavez Sr. was telling Chavez Jr. were things that he might not have had the athletic talent to follow; such as moving quickly in and out. Chavez Jr. doesn’t move quickly because of his huge size. He’s more like a big cruiserweight, and it’s impossible for him to do a lot of the things his famous father did in his prime.
Chavez Sr. said to ESPN “I believe I can help much more than down [at ringside]. He says I pressure [him] too much when I’m down there and he says he feels the pressure. He says it’s better for him that I’m in his corner. That way I can contribute more with my experience.”
Chavez Sr. gave excellent advice to his son during the Chavez Jr’s fight with Sergio Martinez. Unfortunately, Chavez Jr. didn’t seem to follow any of it. Chavez Sr. wanted him to fight on the move to nullify Martinez’s movement, but Chavez Jr. either wouldn’t or couldn’t follow his instructions.
In hindsight, Chavez Jr. would have been much better off if he had been able to follow his instructions because he would have taken less punishment and might have been able to hurt Martinez a lot earlier in the fight.
Chavez Jr. was trained by Freddie Roach for his fight against Sergio Martinez, and it was sad to see how helpless Roach looked with Chavez Jr. blowing off training sessions. There had been talk of Chavez Jr. and Roach teaming up again for the Vera fight, but that seems to have been cancelled now that Chavez Sr. will be training him.
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