Chavez vs. Martinez an intriguing fight

By Boxing News - 08/21/2012 - Comments

Image: Chavez vs. Martinez an intriguing fightBy John F. McKenna (McJack): When undefeated WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) takes on Ring Magazine middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) it will be an intriguing match up. Chavez and Martinez will clash on September 15 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The fight will be carried by HBO and will be a Pay Per View (PPV) event.

As recently as a year ago when boxing observers spoke of Julio testing the waters against the generally acknowledged 3Rd ranked fighter in the world, many including this writer scoffed at the idea. Martinez is a battle tested veteran who has defeated some of the top names in boxing. It was the one sided loss to Sergio which began the downward spiral of former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (40-2, 34 KO’s) back in April 2010. Pavlik has not been the same since.

After Pavlik, Sergio took on the much heralded Paul Williams (41-2, 27 KO’s) in November 2010. No one who saw the Martinez – Williams fight will forget the chilling knockout Sergio scored in the 2nd round. Martinez was quickly elevated to the top echelon in boxing with most boxing pundits rating him right behind Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) and Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) in the top pound for pound list.

Sergio’s stunning KO over Williams served notice to the other top fighters in, or near his weight class. In some ways the Martinez’ victory was a mixed blessing. Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. began to avoid him like he had a fatal contagious disease. The one thing Martinez wanted most was out of reach. Sergio wanted to get either Pacquiao or Mayweather into the ring for a big money fight.

It seemed at times to Martinez that his KO win over Williams instead of advancing his career was a curse. Sergio had a couple of things working against him. Due to his late start in boxing he was already 37 years old by the time boxing fans found out how good he was. And while Sergio is presently at the top of his game he realized that if he was ever to land a huge fight he was running out of time.

A fight with Chavez seemed elusive. It was clear to almost everyone that the powers that be behind Julio wanted no part of Martinez. But things began to change for Chavez when he began to use his size to defeat his opponents. Chavez has been impressive in his most recent fights, particularly in his 7th round stoppage of the highly regarded Andy Lee (28-2, 20 KO’s) in June. Those who had been dismissive of Julio all of a sudden began to sit up and take notice.

Chavez uses a fierce body attack to wear his opponents down and like his father he is blessed with a chin of granite. Julio also has the ability to get down to the middleweight limit of 160 pounds at the time of the weigh in and then gain as much as 15 to 20 pounds by the time of the fight. It is a tactic that has served him well. Chavez used his size advantage to totally dominate Lee, who it was thought would be a real test for Julio.

The big unknown is whether Sergio’s experience and punching power will be enough to offset what again will be a huge size advantage for Chavez.



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