The mere fact that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has generated so much interest at this point in his career is a testament to both his namesake and perhaps to the underlying skills that he seems to possess. But for whatever reasons, Chavez seems to be teasing us with his true potential.
Chavez recently won a ten-round decision over Ohio’s Billy Lyell in Sinaloa, Mexico in a fight that was crucial because of what it leads to, a May shot at WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik, but one that also showed how far away he is from the world class stage. Chavez was able to secure the victory over his very game foe but wasn’t able to dent him or making an exclamation point the way he would have hoped.
Last June Chavez was actually at his best as he pounded out a brutal and thrilling twelve-round decision over tough Irishman John Duddy in San Antonio, Texas. It was something that we had never seen from the 24-year old, as he showed a seemingly endless work rate while landing punishing blows from all angles as he weathered a pretty notable storm himself.
The improvement for the Duddy contest came after Chavez made a well-publicized move by hooking up with trainer Freddie Roach last April and putting in work at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles. That news was on the heels of Chavez’s ho-hum victory over Troy Rowland in Las Vegas, a contest that seemed to serve as a wake up call for the young pugilist that he needed to do something serious to change the course of his career.
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The Roach pairing was definitely unexpected but one that seemed to work well for all parties. Roach insisted, despite previous reports, that Chavez needed little in terms of motivation and that he had no problem rising early to run or following orders.
I had been keeping in touch with strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who works closely with Roach, and he had nothing but praise for the son of living legend Julio Sr. Chavez interestingly began training alongside WBA junior lightweight champion Amir Khan and Ariza revealed that the two men connected instantly and were like peas in a pod.
“They are both great and humble guys,” said Ariza. “I guess maybe people see all the flash and this and that but those guys are really just down to earth. They are only 24 years old and they have all that responsibility on their hands and a lot of people depending on them. At the same time you have to remember, they are just kids. Even being as popular as they are, they are great athletes and very disciplined.”
Khan was getting ready for a date with interim champion Marcos Maidana, a fight he would win in wild fashion on December 11th at the Mandalay Bay, and Chavez was eyeing Alfonso Gomez one week prior with whispers of a Miguel Cotto showdown sometime in 2011. But the fight would fall apart as Gomez suffered an injury to his left elbow in late November while Chavez himself had to withdraw from the contest against late-replacement Pawel Wolak roughly a week later because of the flu.
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Any thoughts of a Cotto scrap fell by the wayside as Chavez saw a $750,000 payday elude him as well. But in a strange twist of fate, despite failing to electrify against Lyell, Chavez is now staring down a shot at a world title straight in the face with the Zbik clash.
The German-born Zbik does carry an undefeated mark but after reviewing him in action there isn’t anything that really catches the eye. It is a winnable fight for Chavez, who reportedly only had three full weeks of training to ready himself for the Lyell tussle.
I recently had a talk with HBO color analyst Larry Merchant and he was slightly scathing when assessing Chavez’s potential, digging into his lack of strength for a middleweight, his pressures to live up to his father’s name, and the hype he claimed the fighter was undeserving of. But despite all of Larry’s barbs, he seemed to recognize that some of his judgement needed to be reserved.
“He’s still a young guy and maybe if he gets a big opportunity he will live up to the name,” Merchant noted.
Perhaps that is just it with Chavez. He may have a padded record and he may have under whelmed us on more than a few occasions but he is still just a kid in a lot of ways. He is still here, whether we like it or not, and he deserves the chance to show us who the real Chavez Jr. is. Perhaps a fight with Zbik will give us some of the answers we are looking for.
