In front of his frenzied partisans at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. proved that while he may never truly become an elite fighter, he is a legitimate attraction. At the least, he?s someone who is good enough to defeat the Marco Antonio Rubios of the world despite the best efforts to thwart his own development as a fighter (http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/171389-chavez-jr-arrested-for-drunk-driving-). No, he isn?t the most dedicated or disciplined prizefighter in the world (to say the least) but he does have a fighting spirit that shows itself during the actual fights.
You wonder how good Chavez could be if he really applied himself. Honestly, he may not really care and it may not really matter because being a Chavez in boxing is like being Kennedy in politics. The truth is that boxing needs draws like Chavez Jr. worse than he needs boxing.
But on this night, what he brought to the table was ample.
?I felt good about myself the entire fight, [Rubio] wasn?t as tough as I thought he was,? said Chavez Jr. after winning a clear-cut, unanimous decision by the scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113. Despite questions about his conditioning and preparation for this contest (which is a perpetual storyline), he had more than enough to outpunch and outwork Rubio. He was also too big for his challenger.
Seeing Chavez balloon up after the weigh-in, it seemed as though Rubio was a good weight class or two smaller by the time they stepped into the ring. The vanquished challenger said as much, ?He was too big for me to handle. When it was body to body, all the weight on me, I couldn?t handle it,? said Rubio. Throughout the night, as Rubio was pushed back physically as if he were on roller skates, he could never really plant his feet and punch with leverage or power. When he needed a driver, all he had for much of the night was a pitching wedge.
Not that Rubio didn?t land any leather. He certainly did that but if there?s one thing Chavez did inherit from his legendary father, it?s a stout set of whiskers. His face afterward showed he was in a real fight and that?s the thing about this guy; he is rarely in a bad one. When it?s all said and done, nobody is saying that Chavez is the definitive middleweight champion of the world (Hey, if you need The Ring magazine or some overzealous blogger to tell you that it?s Sergio Martinez, well, I question just how closely you follow or care about this sport). What he is, however, is usually a pretty good night of entertainment. The crowd of over 14,000 that arrived on Saturday night (and actually executed ?the wave?) was satisfied with what they had witnessed. Make no mistake about it; when Chavez and his traveling brigade come back, these fans will return.
According to Chavez?s promoter, Bob Arum, the plan going into the future is to face Andy Lee next, followed by Antonio Margarito (I can just hear the howls of protest now from my laptop as I type this) and then…Sergio Martinez. Hey, he said it; don?t hold me to these words. I?m just the messenger. The veteran promoter says, ?I want one more HBO fight for exposure.? Arum would like to keep him more active. Bottom line: a busier Chavez Jr. is a less-out-of-shape-by-the-he-comes-into-camp Chavez Jr. ?100 percent and he promised me that he?s going to make weight now, like ten days before. The bullsh*t?s over; this guy rocked him.?
OK, in that regard, Chavez Jr. is the boy who cried workout. Seeing is believing- as is a showdown in the near future with ?Maravilla.?
Regardless, this young man brings out the most extreme views from boxing fans. There is no doubt he is a polarizing figure for a myriad of reasons. Some will grant him unconditional loyalty and adulation based on his lineage. To others, with Chavez?s lack of professionalism and band of enablers who try and cover up every misstep, he is boxing?s version of ?Tommy Boy,? a trust fund baby in a sport filled with hard men who weren?t born with silver Cleto Reyeses on their hands. He?s that guy who despite just having a 2.8 GPA and an SAT of 940, gets into Harvard because he?s a legacy.
The truth- like it does most of the time- probably lies in the middle. He?s not as bad as some state (other than Martinez, can you name five other middleweights right now that you?d bet the farm on to defeat Chavez?) and he?ll never be as good as his father. But then again, who will be? ?JC Superstars? just don?t cross the border every day.
He is what he is, a decent young prizefighter who is improving, given a certain status and opportunities based more on marketability than actual ability.
And to some, that?s good enough. To others, it never will be.
NO TEST
According to Rubio?s co-manager, Julio Gudino, Chavez Jr. did not take a post-fight test for illegal performance-enhancing substances.
?We requested- as required by the rules of the WBC and the state of Texas Athletic Commission – the anti-doping test, which their rules mandated for world championship fights and Chavez did not do the anti-doping tests,? he stated to Maxboxing, explaining further, ?We were in our locker room waiting for the anti-doping tests to be done per the rule meeting that would be completed after the fight. We were waiting; we requested the test to be done so we could get out of the stadium, so we could take Marco to rest and we were told, ?No, Chavez is not doing an anti-doping test.? It somehow didn?t get ordered.
?So the WBC, Mr. Jose Sulaiman, is standing by the ruling and Dickie Cole, the Texas State Athletic Commissioner said he didn?t order it, yet at the rules meetings, requested and required it, as it is by the rules. So this championship and this title should be an issue and there will be a formal complaint.?
This sounds very fishy, doesn?t it? Somehow the WBC and Texas somehow allowed a fighter to circumvent the testing protocol? And not to cast any aspersions but didn?t Chavez Jr. get busted before for utilizing diuretics? It was no secret leading up to this fight that he was very heavy and cutting weight rapidly the week of the fight. This here looks like a systemic breakdown- or worse.
Some phone calls will be made this week. As Ricky Ricardo used to say to Lucy, ?Someone?s got some ?splaining to do.?
GOODY
Anyone who knows me at all, knows that Marvelous Marvin Hagler is my all-time favorite fighter. To me, he represented everything a fighter should be, so it saddened me to hear that Goody Petronelli, who (alongside his brother, Pat) ran Hagler?s career in and out of the ring, passed away last week. I asked Arum about the uncommon bond and loyalty that the Petronellis and Hagler had with each other.
?They were the most loyal guys I?ve ever encountered in boxing,? he said, while in his ringside seat at the Alamodome on Saturday night. ?They were not only loyal to each other- which they certainly were- but they were loyal to the people that worked with them like me. I never had a contract with Marvin other than fight-by-fight. And there was no way, no matter what anyone offered them, that Goody, Pat and Marvin would leave me. I can?t say enough. I remember when Marvin was hesitating about Sugar Ray Leonard and the Petronellis said to him, ?Look, we get a third?- because they had no contract either, ?We?ll take a lot less,? and Marvin pounded the table and said, ?I don?t know if I?m going to fight that little punk but if I do, you better take a third!??
I was told a story years ago by Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler that in other instances, the brothers were willing to take less than they had before as Hagler became a multimillion-dollar entity. But Marvin would state something to the effect of, ?Hey, we came this far together from the beginning. The law says you guys can take up to a third. Let?s just finish it out that way.?
And just like that, the issue was settled.
Could you imagine a scenario like that occurring today?
