Boxing Scribe Vivek Wallace brings his Left-Hook Lounge mailbag to FightHype.com, answering questions for fans and giving his own unique perspective on all the latest current events in boxing. This week, check out his response to fans as they discuss this past Saturday’s performance of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., the upcoming Super Six finale between Andre Ward and Carl Froch, Joshua Clottey’s return to the ring, and much more.
Jesus B. (Sacramento, CA): How do you view Chavez jr. and what do you think his final legacy in the sport will be when he walks away in comparison to his Father’s?
Vivek W. (FH): In all fairness, I’ve always felt that Chavez jr. would be held to a different and rather difficult standard based on the fact that he had to do enough to separate himself from a man who had already done more than enough to separate himself from all others in the sport (his Father). That being said, I do think a lot of the critical feedback we hear on him has been beyond accurate in the sense that he simply hasn’t lived up to the hype associated with the name he bears.
With a record of 44-0, 31KO’s, at first glance, you would expect a fighter who carries this type of record to be somewhere in the upper echelon of the sport; however, if I took a poll of 30 fight fans in the mainstream boxing demographic, my money says no more than 5 of them could name 10 of his opponents. I think to an extent, you have to blame Arum for keeping fighters like he and Donaire on what I term “cultural cards” (“Latin Fury” and “Pinoy Power”) for so long that only gave them exposure to those who had cultural ties, yet few others.
Great concept in theory, but unlike Donaire who has a certain level of talent to fall back on, Chavez is really a fairly basic fighter at best who simply doesn’t have the tools to stack up to the elite once he runs out of cupcakes to face. The Duddy fight left me a bit impressed because I saw more heart from him than I felt he had ever shown up to that point, but beyond that, I haven’t seen in him the greatness his promoter and trainer seem to think exist. Sturm, Pirog, Rubio and even Ishida I think all would give him major fits and greatly marginalize his greatest attributes.
At the end of the day, I can’t dump on the guy, but clearly, he isn’t a fraction of the fighter his Father was, and the day he steps up his level of competition you’ll know that as strongly as I do.
Marcus N. (Denver, CO): How do you see the Ward/Froch fight turning out?
Vivek W. (FH): I think this fight will be the toughest of each mans career, and by the end of the night, I think they’ll both endorse this statement. Froch has faced some veteran, quality fighters, but none with the degree of versatility like Ward, and vice versa. I really think that Froch is more talented than given credit for, and a although Ward is the more skilled of the two, one could argue that he has never faced a skilled fighter on the level of Froch either. Froch is very underrated and has a knack for stepping up when it’s time to play for all the marbles.
I really think Froch will make it an interesting fight, but Ward is just one of those talents that, in my most humble observation, simply has a tool for nearly every occasions in the world. I’ve often talked about how Floyd Mayweather jr. carries (what I refer to as) that proverbial “tool-belt”. On some days he may use the wrench, other days the pliers, and on some occasions, perhaps even the hammer; but no matter what the occasion, he always seems to bring out the right “tool” to separate him from the man across from him. Ward is the only other man in the sport I feel truly carries this ‘tool belt’, so to speak.
Like Mayweather, he has a level of diversity that makes him very difficult to tame, because not only is he versatile, but he has the ring intelligence to guide him on precisely how to use it. I’ve maintained for quite some time that he’s the best fundamental fighter in the sport behind Mayweather. If he’s able to win decisively – (underline that word because it will be key) – it will tell me he is in fact as developed as the history behind his record tells us he is. In the end, I like Ward to win on a comfortable points margin, but is boxing, and anything can happen on any given night. Stay tuned.
Cedrick H. (Las Vegas, NV): How do you think a fight between Clottey and Mosley at 154lbs would turn out and do you think either man would be dangerous enough to give Sergio Martinez a good fight at ’54?
Vivek W. (FH): I think a fight between Clottey and Mosley would be a very intriguing matchup. Not only stylistically, but also due to the strong ‘crossroads’ element involved. Both men know that they have squandered several opportunities to do major things, and both men also know that the season for those opportunities currently rest on a football equivalence of that proverbial 4th and 4 from the 4yd line in the 4th quarter with 4 seconds left type subplots. To In a nutshell, it’s all or nothing at this stage for both men.
There are no more opportunities. There are no more ‘win-this-and-the-big-pay-day-is-a-fight-away’ steps to climb. It’s all or nothing and they would have to seize the moment. The interesting thing about this question is that as good of a fight as it could be for obvious reasons, both men realize the imminent urgency and necessity (at this stage) of staying in the win column, which tells me that the last person they’d agree to fight would be each other because there’s far too much risk and far too little reward in doing so.
How would they handle a matchup against Sergio Martinez? Clottey is still young, fast, and very strong, with a very good defense. That could be a recipe for disaster for Martinez. This isn’t to say that Clottey wins, but it is to say that the fight would be very competitive. In the case of Mosley, I sincerely think that he simply has seen his best days, and there’s no way we’d see him competitive against the bigger Martinez. At the end of the day, Martinez is a middleweight and any names short of Mayweather or Pacquaio probably won’t entice him into coming down in weight, regardless, so it’s all a shallow point and not worth consideration.
