By Dan Ambrose: Next month, former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-2-1, 32 KOs) will be back in the ring in a 10 round bout against little known fighter names Marcos Reyes (33-2, 24 KO) on July 18th in a 10 round bout at the Don Haskins Convention Center, in El Paso, Texas, USA.
Chavez Jr, 29, cannot afford to lose this fight because if he does, he’ll likely take a big hit in his rankings. Chavez Jr. lost his last fight to light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara after quitting on his stool after the 9th round last April. While Chavez Jr. did slip a little in the rankings, he remains ranked high at #5 WBC, #8 WBA.
It’s quite possible that Chavez Jr. can afford to lose two more times and still remain a top 15 ranked contender, at least with the WBC. But I don’t think the WBA will keep Chavez Jr. ranked high if he keeps getting beaten. You can say that Chavez Jr. was beaten not long ago by Brian Vera in their first fight in 2012, which means Chavez Jr. has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights.
Chavez Jr. has definitely lost something from his game, and I don’t think the generous rankings that he’s being given by the World Boxing Council is going to be able to keep Chavez Jr. afloat for long if he keeps getting beaten by every halfway decent opponent he faces. Chavez Jr. made Fonfara, a decent but not great light heavyweight, look like a champion against him. If Chavez Jr. is getting beaten by average fighters like Fonfara, then the future doesn’t look good for Chavez Jr.
“Thanks to SHOWTIME for putting together this great fight,” said Chavez. “Reyes is a Mexican warrior and this will be a tough battle for me. This guy likes to brawl. But at 168 pounds I am the best and will prove it with a great victory for my fans.”
Chavez Jr’s handlers can feed him easy opposition like Reyes over and over again if they want to, but Chavez Jr. is still going to struggle badly when he’s put in with good opposition. Chavez Jr. is 29-years-old now, and he either has the talent to compete with the best in the super middleweight division or he doesn’t.
The fact of the matter is Chavez Jr. has used up three years of his career since his loss to Sergio Martinez in 2012, and he has nothing to show for it. Chavez Jr. said he was moving up to super middleweight two years ago, and yet he’s still not faced a super middleweight yet.
It doesn’t make sense. Chavez Jr. moved up to 168, and then twice fought middleweight journeyman Brian Vera. After those fights, Chavez Jr. fought light heavyweight Fonfar. It just looks like Chavez Jr. doesn’t have the discipline to make weight at super middleweight, and he seems to have some kind of problem about fighting actual super middleweights instead of hand picking guys from the middleweight and light heavyweight division for him to fight.
Reyes is an inexperienced fighter who has lost the only times he’s faced other mediocre opponents. The truth is Reyes is a very limited fighter and has obviously been brought in to make Chavez Jr. look good and to give him someone that he can finally beat.
The Chavez Jr-Reyes fight will be televised on Showtime Championship Boxing. It starts at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT on July 18th in El Paso, Texas.
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