Chavez Jr. vs. Lee: Andy may need a KO to win this fight

By Boxing News - 04/06/2012 - Comments

Image: Chavez Jr. vs. Lee: Andy may need a KO to win this fightBy Jason Kim: Middleweight contender Andy Lee (28-1, 20’s) has beat Sergio Martinez to a fight against WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KO’s) on June 16th at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. It’s a once in a lifetime shot, because the 27-year-old Lee could have been languishing around for years before the WBC ever let him get a shot.

As it is, Lee, #2 WBA, #WBO, #4 WBC, may need to score a KO to win this fight because it’s taking place in Texas where Chavez Jr. has been fighting lately at weights of up to 180 pounds. Lee’s trainer Emanuel Steward isn’t worried about Lee getting jobbed in Texas, saying recently that he’s trained him to go for a knockout rather than to win by a decision. That’s smart but Lee me need to find a bit more power than what he’s been showing if he wants to take out the steel-chinned Chavez Jr.

This guy can take a really good punch, although Chavez Jr. still has yet to face one puncher. He’s taken all the heavy shots from the light to medium punchers that he’s been carefully matched against. There hasn’t been anyone with the kind of power that Lee has, so this could be a real test of Chavez Jr’s chin to see if he can take Lee’s kind of power.

Lee won’t have any problems landing his shots because Chavez Jr. will likely try to smother him on the inside by trying to push his body against him by bumping him to get him on the ropes. Lee will have to use his foot work to get Chavez Jr. from using those tactics because he doesn’t have much of an inside game and will be out of his element if Chavez Jr. is able to keep him pinned for 12 rounds.

The important thing is that Lee tries to get Chavez Jr. out of there because I don’t like Lee’s chances if the fight goes to the scorecards. I see him losing if it goes to the judges no matter how far in front Lee appears to be. Chavez Jr. is the home fighter and it’s going to take quite a bit for Lee to get the win.



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