In his pre-fight interview with Jim Gray, Marcos Reyes (33-3, 24 KOs) explained that his trainer had given him a quote to sum up his opponent; “The sons of giants are dwarfs.” Many people on Twitter retweeted the quote as it seemed to hit the nail on the head in regards to the dynamic between Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and his son.
We all know Chavez Sr. is regarded in most circles as the greatest Mexican fighter to ever live. Having a father who is regarded as the best can’t be an easy weight to carry on your shoulders, especially when you choose the same profession as your old man.
What played out in El Paso, TX on Saturday night, and what’s been apparent for quite some time, is that Chavez Jr. can’t and won’t ever hold a candle to his father’s reign in the ring. Not only that, because hell who expected Chavez Jr. to surpass his father and become the greatest Mexican fighter of all time, but hypothetically matching Chavez Jr. up against any of the top names in the 160, 168 or 175 pound divisions produces laughable imagery and some pretty sure results.
Gennady Golovkin, Andre Ward and Carl Froch (before he retired) would all demolish Chavez Jr.
Yet again, Chavez Jr. came in over weight and unmotivated aginst Reyes, and while he refused to step on Showtime’s unofficial scales before the fight, he was noticeably bigger than Reyes on fight night.
Chavez Jr. came out tentative, flat footed and unlike his better days, he did not fire off sharp combinations. After loosening up midway through the bout–and maybe after realizing that Reyes couldn’t hurt him–Chavez Jr. opened up offensively and hit Reyes with everything but the kitchen sink, yet couldn’t knock him down, let alone out.
After the fight, Chavez Jr. seemed satisfied with his performance and placed most of the blame for not being able to close the show on an injured left hand.
“In the third round I hurt my left hand. I think it’s broken, I don’t know. With all respect to Reyes, if I hadn’t hurt my hand I would have knocked him out,” said Chavez Jr.
Regardless of if he actually hurt his hand, the problem with this story is that Chavez Jr. knows that every outing can and will be billed as the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. show.
“I’m going to fight at 168 pounds. Little by little, I’m going to get down in weight,” said Chavez Jr. during his post-fight interview.
Little by little? That means he may need another two or three fights to actually make weight. But hey, who cares, right?
As the fight wore on, Chavez Jr. slowed down and became more of a stationary target, which allowed Reyes to score points and win some rounds. Unfortunately, two of the three judges saw it as a one-sided fight in favor of Chavez Jr. The official scores were 97-92, 98-91 and 96-93–Round By Round Boxing scored it 96-93 for Chavez Jr. as well.
As far as improvement, Chavez Jr. didn’t seem to focus in or work on any of his deficiencies. While it’s only the first fight that Robert Garcia has trained Chavez Jr. for, his imprint was nowhere to be found.
After the fight, Garcia told Showtime’s Gray that he thought Chavez Jr. could have done better and that he would’ve liked to see more jabs–the look on his way said a whole lot more.
Whether or not these two continue to work together remains to be seen, but as Showtime’s analyst Al Bernstein said during the fight, in terms of technique, Chavez Jr. showed nothing.
How long will we subjected to watching Chavez Jr. in against smaller and less-than-stellar opposition? How many more fights will Chavez Jr. choose to disregard the rules and simply pay a fee to come in at his desired weight?
Reyes hung tough, fired off some decent combinations in spots, and did what he could to keep the gigantic Chavez Jr. off of him. But, as he noted after the bout, the deck was stacked against him.
“I made the weight at 168 pounds. He didn’t make the weight. He’s like a Light Heavyweight fighting a Middleweight,” said a frustrated Reyes.
What’s next for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.? Do you think he should continue to fight and if so, who should he face next?
All photos by Esther Lin/Showtime
