There?s no question that when Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fought Bryan Vera last September, it wasn?t one of Chavez? finest performance. In fact, one could argue that it was easily one of his worst, as he was consistently outboxed, though he did manage to land the harder blows, which surely swayed the judges. Ultimate, Chavez was given a unanimous decision win, but most felt he lost, including myself.
Now nearly six months later, Chavez is getting set to try and leave no doubts this time around that he is the better fighter when he faces Vera in a rematch on March 1 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
?I have been training for four months for this fight because I need to be at my best to win this fight and win it in an impressive fashion. I must eliminate all doubts about the outcome,? said Chavez this week at his training camp.
?I know that I will be much better than the first fight. I believe that Bryan Vera will come very confident after what happened in our first fight which will make this fight much better than the first one and one that the fans will remember for a long time,? added Chavez.
Though still only with one loss on his record, Chavez has had a string of bad performances, followed by better performances, and then by bad ones again. He?s been pretty inconsistent throughout his career, and just when it looks like he?s set to break through, as when he picked up his first world title, he goes out and gets dominated by Sergio Martinez. It?s not that Chavez doesn?t have talent because he does, but his work ethic has been in question for years now and his inability to make weight in fights (forcing adjustments to weight limits) has made him look lazy.
The thing is, Chavez has a good team, and there should be no excuses for him not giving it his all in camp, and it will be interesting to see if that proves to be the case when he gets in the ring with Vera.
?I owe the fans a great performance and that is what they will get on March 1 at the Alamodome and on HBO. I have had a lot of success in San Antonio and I look forward to going there and putting on a good show for them. I will make the 168 pound limit with no problem and I will be able to do the things I could not do in first fight. I will have better movement, I will be more consistent and I will fight 12 hard rounds if that is what it takes to win this second fight. Vera is a tough guy with a good chin, but I will do my best to send him home early,? proclaimed Chavez.
Chavez (47-1-1, 32 KOs) was Mexico?s darling until Canelo Alvarez began surpassing him with better performances. The loss to Martinez didn?t help, though the final round, when he nearly knocked out Martinez, earned him back some fans. Now with Alvarez? recent lopsided loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., Chavez has the opportunity to try and gain some ground again, but he?ll need to be convincing next Saturday night.
?I am looking forward to a great night of boxing and to getting back on the road to another world championship run,? declared Chavez.
We will see.
