LAS VEGAS ? There is no sporting tradition more deeply embedded in the soul of Mexico than boxing. It is a country created by warriors and sustained by them today inside the most dangerous piece of real estate in sports ? the boxing ring.
To be a boxer there is to accept the harsh demands of the warrior?s code, a code embraced by feverish fans who demand you not only win but do so in a fashion keeping with the great traditions of the past. They are bloody traditions that will tolerate defeat but never retreat.
Into this world, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was born. His father is universally considered the greatest boxer in the country?s long history, and that carries with it baggage young Chavez has never been able to shake no matter what he accomplished after making the choice to enter the family business 14 years ago.
Young Chavez could never approach the heights of his father but that is not his great sin. His great sin is that he quit on his stool two years ago against a fringe light heavyweight contender named Andrzej Fonfara, a sin compounded by past transgressions like thrice failing to make weight and for testing positive for marijuana in 2012.
They are sins he will try to absolve Saturday night at the expense of Mexico?s newest great champion, Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez, in front of the largest indoor crowd for boxing in Las Vegas? history. They are also sins Alvarez keeps throwing at him in flurries.
?He has shamed his country with what he has done with his career,? Alvarez said during a recent facedown with Chavez on HBO. ?He has done many things that have placed in doubt the sport of boxing. I can?t respect an athlete like that. I can?t do it. That?s the truth.?
Truth or not, the consequences of those words have turned this from merely a highly anticipated fight into a passion play that carries with it for Chavez Jr. far more than a victory over a popular opponent. That is a fact even his father acknowledged both in words and by the frantic way he was chewing gum throughout yesterday?s final press conference at the MGM Grand.
The elder Chavez looked fit enough to fight himself and seemed intense enough to do so. He understands what is on the line Saturday night for his son is something more important than pay-per-view numbers or even purse numbers. What?s on the line is how his countrymen will view him for ever more.
?We accepted this fight for my son?s dignity, for the pride. ? Chavez said. ?Pride is the most important thing in this fight. Not money.?
Actually the first important thing is to make the 1641⁄2-pound catch weight the two fighters agreed to. Alvarez recently renounced the WBC middleweight title he held after that organization tried to pressure him into making a deal to face unified champion Gennady Golovkin, so there are no belts on the line. But in addition to pride there is a $1 million per pound penalty clause Chavez had to agree to because of his checkered history with the scales.
Yesterday he said he was already at 168 and would easily make the limit, but assuming he does a larger hurdle remains. That is the one to win back the country of his birth and their hypercritical and often hyperbolic fans, who turned on him over the past three years when his intensity and interest waned after he nearly knocked out then middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in the final round after bravely absorbing a terrible beating most of the fight.
He went from being a co-equal with the rising Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) in the eyes of Mexicans to a harshly treated joke. But Saturday night Chavez can erase all that in 12 rounds if he boxes adroitly and ferociously. It is his opportunity, he knows, to rewrite his story.
?The person who loses is going to lose a lot,? Chavez (50-2-1, 32 KOs) admitted. ?That?s the same for both of us.
?This fight has created a lot of passion in me. This is the biggest fight of my career just because of who I?m fighting and because of the opportunity. All my career they don?t give me credit. That?s what always happens. I?m not just the son of Julio Cesar Chavez. I?m the new Julio Cesar Chavez.
?Right now there is not one fighter everybody is following. Whoever wins this fight will be that person. For Mexico this fight is important for the making of an idol everyone can follow. This is my opportunity to show people who I am.?
Who the former middleweight champion had become over the past few years was a bloated mess who trained indifferently and fought the same way. But for this fight he fled to the same isolated mountains where his father once prepared himself for battle. There he trained with Nacho Beristain, who is considered Mexico?s top trainer, laboring in a world devoid of internet connections, cable TV and far more dangerous distractions.
Now he has emerged from that two-month exile, he claims, prepared to answer to the demands of his fervent countrymen in a moment that may be his last.
?I think this is one of the most important fights in the history of Mexico,? Chavez Jr. said. ?I feel it?s my last opportunity and I?m going to take advantage of it and make the best of it. I?m the type of fighter people want to see.
?I can tell you this. I am the son of a legend but all of my accomplishments have come from my work. I?m the one who won those fights. I want to prove to everybody that I still can fight at the very top levels.
?I don?t fear my opponent. The only thing I worry about is myself. I?m the only thing I have to worry about. Boxing is not about luck. I don?t believe in luck. It?s about hard work and it?s what you have in your heart.?
What that is, of course, is what all Mexico is waiting to see Saturday night. Only after that will they decide who Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is to them.
