Photo by Esther Lin
There will be several articles coming out about Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in the next couple of days, and none of them will be overly flattering. Chavez defeated career 154-160 pound-fighter Marcos Reyes in a Super (Duper? Super-and-a-half?) Middleweight clash on Showtime Saturday night by unanimous decision.
That is where the good news starts, ends and dies violently for him. The rest is pretty simple: Chavez blew off the weight (again), paid the guy he was fighting off so they would still fight despite missing said weight limit (again), beat up on a much smaller guy (again), and looked pretty damn lousy doing it.
Again.
In the ring, Chavez moved with all the intensity and urgency of Snuffaluffagus on quaaludes. He stood mostly still, let the smaller, lighter-hitting Reyes land clean shots, and then eventually moved in and unloaded a combination or two before backing away. He was clearly saving energy, most likely because his training regimen wasn’t quite as dedicated as it should have been.
All the talk of his new focus and renewed passion for the sport was in the end, just talk. That was pretty evident when he missed weight Friday, and then simply threw money at his opponent instead of actually trying to make the weight later on. Reyes, probably giddy at the thought of the extra dough, promptly accepted the offer.
This is not how boxing is supposed to work. This is bullshit. It’s the result of a pampered child getting whatever he wants and constantly expecting the same treatment, regardless of the situation. He was about 30 seconds from becoming a national hero back in 2012 when he nearly knocked out Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. Now, he’s reviled as a man who is unwilling to actually put in the work to become great. He’s relying on genetics. That, and the fact that he most certainly has the clout to handpick his opponents. You know the ones–smaller, lighter hitting, with everything to gain and not a goddamn thing to lose but a few brain cells.
He’s basically fought one guy with superb physical talent–Martinez–who was giving up a ridiculous amount of weight and still absolutely embarrassed Chavez for 11 rounds before hanging on to give him his first loss. He’s challenged one guy bigger than him–Andrzej Fonfara–who beat the living shit out of him when Chavez made the decision to try making up his own weight division. Other than that, he’s feasted on lesser fighters. Yet, he still comes off like he truly believes he’s earned a place in the sport, rather than simply having been handed one.
There is no place where he comes off more clueless about how he’s perceived than when he’s standing with Jim Gray. Gray, who’s never met a beehive he could contain himself from flicking, seems to derive a sadistic pleasure in needling Chavez. It’s actually one of the few enjoyable things Gray does. When he pressed JCC Saturday night about his performance, Chavez hilariously offered to rematch with Reyes, and boxing Twitter exploded with glee. His answers, some of them given in English, some in Spanish, belied his actions. It was the equivalent of the class clown telling his teacher to fuck off and then wondering why he’s being sent to the office.
And that’s Chavez’s biggest problem–this is no act. He really just doesn’t get it. He’s too far gone to expect him to suddenly repent, humble himself, and start finally giving a shit about the sport that has given him everything. Nothing’s going to change here.
If anything, it’s going to get worse because he and his team know his limitations. Don’t expect him to call out Andre Ward or Sergey Kovalev, or even Gennady Golovkin, though he’ll probably continue to trash talk him from afar. Those fights aren’t happening. Those guys are all established players who don’t need him. If he blows off the weight, they are in a position to tell him to pound salt when he attempts to pay them off. He won’t fight them because they don’t need him.
His new trainer, Robert Garcia, is an excellent coach. But his face Saturday night seemed to betray first frustration, and then complete disgust at his new pupil’s performance. Chavez goes through trainers like Paulie Malignaggi goes through hair gel, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Chavez/Garcia union as a one-and-done deal.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will never be his father. That has been clear for a long, long time. But it has to be hard for JCC Sr., one of the greatest, most beloved fighters the sport has ever seen, to hear the boos rain down on his son lately.
The kid has paved his own path, but instead of using his father’s road as a blueprint, he tore it up and fell off a cliff. The sad part is that Jr. could probably be a formidable opponent for anybody if he actually gave a shit, but he doesn’t.
Nobody expected him to change overnight, few people can change that quickly. But after Saturday, it’s pretty clear that he’ll never change at all.
Some Random Notes From Last Weekend
Photo by Lucas Noonan
Carl Frampton overcame a seriously tough dude in Alejandro Gonzalez to pull out a solid win. Not sure if he’d be able to come off the canvas twice to beat Scott Quigg, but let’s hope we find out. Also, Gonzalez is a bad ass. More of him.
What the hell is going on with those Ray Liotta Tequila commercials? I wonder if anybody at 1800 Tequila has figured out that Liotta’s sexy, “hey baby” face is the same as his “YOU FUCKED WITH THE WRONG GUY, JIMMY, AND NOW I’M GOING TO BASH IN YOUR FUCKIN’ SKULL” face. More of this as well.
Chris Arreola. Yikes. Three years ago, he’d be a solid fight for Deontay Wilder. Now? He’s a serious concussion waiting to happen.
Anybody else notice that Arreola’s kid didn’t even blink when he was dumping sweat on him like a broken faucet? That one is going to be a scary Heavyweight contender one day.
Speaking of sweat, how about Fred Kassi? He gives Glen Johnson a run for his money in the Excessive Sweating To The Point Of Hilarity award. Count me in as a hardcore fan of Amir Imam. Not just because he punches like a mule, but because of the Jake LaMotta headbands and for calling out “fake ass fighters.” Let’s hope nobody coaches him on what to say in the future.
Also, count referee Jose Garcia in as a STRONG contender for my end-of-the-year Laurence Cole Award. Taking a point away from Reyes basically because Chavez told him to was one of the most pathetic, lousiest things we’ve seen in a while. Apparently, the only criterion for becoming a ref in Texas is the ability to stand up for 45 minutes.
