By Jim Dower: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was not impressed with what he saw from Gennady “GGG” Golovkin last Saturday night in his fight on HBO pay-per-view against Daniel Jacobs. Chavez Jr. thinks that Jacobs should have been given the victory over Golovkin because he deserved it more in his opinion. Chavez Jr. says Golovkin was just looking for a knockout punch, and that Jacobs did the better work in the fight. Chavez Jr. says Golovkin was hurt by Jacobs.
Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a 12 round unanimous decision victory over Jacobs last Saturday night, but it was a razor thin victory. The judges had Golovkin just barely edging Jacobs by the scores 115-112, 115-112 and 114-113. The fight took place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“I like Danny Jacobs because Golovkin he look more for the punch for the knockout every time,” said Chavez Jr. to esnewsreporting.com. “I like Jacobs to win the fight. He deserved more the victory. But I had an even fight because of Golovkin’s power. I think a lot of people see the real Triple G. I’m smarter, bigger and I have power too. Jacobs landed great punches, and Golovkin did well but was hurt a little bit. He won the fight, but he didn’t look good. I think I could hurt Golovkin, but Golovkin doesn’t want to fight me. He said in an interview that he wants to fight Canelo. He’s scared to fight me. If he beats Canelo, he has to fight me,” said Chavez Jr.
It was a good fight that could have gone either way. Golovkin got the victory by knocking Jacobs down in round 4, and using his jab to control many of the early rounds. Golovkin seemed to get tired in the second half of the fight, he didn’t match the effort that Jacobs put in during the last part of the fight. Jacobs would have needed to do a little bit more in the last 6 rounds to make up the difference in the fight, and he failed to do that. It was close though. There was talk from both fighters afterwards about wanting a rematch, but it’s one that will take place a little later on.
Chavez Jr. said former WBC super flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (46-1, 38 KOs) did not look like the best fighter in the world in losing a 12 round majority decision to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (42-4-1, 38 KOs) last Saturday night on the undercard of the Golovkin vs. Jacobs card. Gonzalez was outworked by Rungvisai in losing by the scores 114-112, 114-112 and 113-113. There were a lot of boxing fans that were not pleased with Gonzalez losing the fight. They thought he had done enough to be given the division. Chavez Jr. didn’t see anything special about Gonzalez, who came into the fight rated #1 in Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound ratings.
“He didn’t look like the best,” said Chavez Jr. about Roman Gonzalez. “He looked normal. For me, Roman Gonzalez is a good fighter, but he’s not among the best. He’s not good enough. Golovkin, Jacobs, Ward, Kovalev, they are better fighters than him,” said Chavez Jr.
Where Gonzalez looked limited was his inability to box in and out the way skilled fighters do. Rungvisai showed Gonzalez’s limitations as a fighter. Gonzalez is a great puncher, but he looked flat-footed against Rungvisai, and unable to make the adjustments required for him to move around the ring. Rungvisai was the bigger fighter, and Gonzalez might have been able to out-box him if he’d been a little more mobile. Gonzalez couldn’t do that. He tried to go straight at Rungvisai to slug with him, and he didn’t have the size or the power to pull it off.
“Me and Nacho Beristain are having a good camp,” said Chavez Jr. about his trainer for the Canelo fight. “It’s very good training. I’m training very hard for Canelo. I know we can beat Canelo. 164.5 is a good weight for me. I want my best. I’m good physically and mentally,” said Chavez Jr.
Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) is fighting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) on May 6 on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo on HBO pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight is taking place at a catch-weight of 164.5 lbs. The weight was thought originally to be a tough one for Chavez Jr. to make, but he’s been able to drop the pounds quickly and he’s already near his fighting weight with less than 2 months to go before the fight.
“I’m 180,” said Chavez Jr. “I weighed Friday and I weighed 179. This fight is important. I can’t take another loss. Things happened in my career. It’s not good for me. It’s a great fight for Mexican boxing. Robert [Garcia] knows me. He knows I’m focused and can beat Canelo. I’m excited about the fight. It’s important for boxing. The people are winning this fight on May 6,” said Chavez Jr.
The 30-year-old Chavez Jr. is the underdog for the Canelo fight. It would be a great comeback story if Chavez Jr. can pull off the upset to defeat the 26-year-old Canelo. Chavez Jr. is not an old fighter, but his inactivity and his weight problems makes him seem like a fighter that is over-the-hill in the minds of a lot of boxing fans. What’s intriguing about the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight is whether Chavez Jr. can get back to the form that he was at when he was the WBC middleweight champion in 2011-2012. Chavez Jr. was a very good fighter when he was at his best.
“Yes, that’s what I’ve been talking about with my team,” said Canelo about him vacating his WBO junior middleweight title. “The more prudent thing to do is to vacate the title and don’t go back. The offer has been made,” said Canelo about an offer being made to Golovkin. “We set the table. It’s about him taking the offer or not. It’s on him now. Right now, my concentration is on the fight at hand, but like I said the offer has been made,” said Canelo.