It wasn't hard-hitting action all night long, but Julio Cesar Chavez Jr kept his belt and his undefeated record tonight.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr clearly had his struggles with making weight, which he admitted last night, but he won tonight's fight against Marco Antonio Rubio despite a mediocre performance. Chavez won by unanimous decision in San Antonio on scores of 118-110, 116-112, and 115-113. Bad Left Hook scored it 115-113 for Rubio, whose activity was as valuable as Chavez's bullying tactics, but it was a close fight that really could have gone either way. (118-110 was far too wide, however.)
[ Related: Donaire Not Thrilling in UD Win ]
Chavez (45-0-1, 31 KO) just didn't have the same power and energy he usually does tonight. He was able to muscle the smaller Rubio, but often didn't do anything once he did get him to the ropes or into the corner. Rubio (53-6-1, 46 KO) kept pumping his hands, but to be entirely fair to Chavez, Rubio didn't do a ton of damage in the fight, and his activity was greater than his effectiveness in some ways.
Truthfully, neither Chavez nor Rubio looked particularly impressive tonight, and until the final two very spirited rounds, the fight was surprisingly dull.
What can Chavez take from this? Realistically, it's not a promising outing in any way. He had some issues preparing for the fight, clearly, including a reported drunk driving arrest a couple of weeks ago, and it appears we're far from out of the woods when it comes to Chavez's questionable training habits and dedication to the hard work that goes with the insta-fame that comes with daddy's name.
But he won the fight, and it's not really a huge argument that he didn't. You could score it close for Rubio -- which I did -- but it was very close either way. Chavez didn't rob Rubio, same as he didn't rob Sebastian Zbik last year, another fight I scored for Chavez's opponent.
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Is he ready for the true top names at 160? Is he really a top 10 guy?
If he's top 10, it's back-end, and the green trinket he got for a late/early Christmas gift last year doesn't prove that he's any better than that. Neither does a win over Rubio, a guy I said before I didn't buy as any big-time step up in competition from the likes of Manfredo or Zbik or even John Duddy.
After the fight, Chavez said he'd like to fight Sergio Martinez, Antonio Margarito, or Miguel Cotto next. That Martinez fight can be made any time he wants it, but chances seem very good that Margarito will be next. We'll have more on that tomorrow morning.
For now, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr remains unbeaten. How long he stays there will be up to his matchmakers in some ways, but up to him, too. If he comes to another fight in this kind of shape, he's going to have the same struggles he had tonight, and the other guy might be better than Rubio.
0 recs | 60 comments
115 - 113 For Rubio???
rgb - February 5, 2012
I know this was mentioned in the live thread, but HBO was completely terrible tonight and I hope this isn’t a sign of what we can expect from the Hershman regime in the future. Between Lampley and Steward fumbling over things they should really know (“Robert Garcia also trains Ortiz!”), Lampley becoming even more of a CompuBox adherent, Lederman pretending that Rubio was getting the crap beat out of him, Merchant at his absolute corny worst, and the complete glossing over of anyone in competing at 122 and 160 save for guys that tonight’s fighters had already faced, I thought the coverage sucked.
As grateful as I was to not have Kellerman gushing over Donaire for the entirety of the first fight, I was disappointed he wasn’t there to provide at least a modicum of objectivity during Chavez’s sloppy win.
bachwards - February 5, 2012
Lampley was embarrassing in the main event.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
RAGING BULL!!!!!!!!!!!! BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
I could have really used some more shots of senile Chavez Sr. advice to his son.
bachwards - February 5, 2012
dumbest thing ever said in a broadcast
battle axe of doom - February 5, 2012
this is a recurring theme
Matt Miller - February 5, 2012
They called Vazquez Jr. , Martinez and Alvarez. The HBO team didn’t have their best night.
MontrealBoxing - February 5, 2012
They haven’t had their best night for about 10 years.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
They all looked so old sitting together
Lampley with his glasses. Merchant steps from the crypt. Manny getting grayer. When they talked about Angelo, it was damn near too close to the bone.
Twenty four rounds are too much for these guys. They should be finished in time for the early bird special.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
I have for at least four years questioned if any of them really follow boxing.
Tonight was the clearest indication that they do, if it’s in front of them, but they don’t really otherwise. This is where Kellerman becomes extra valuable.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
I find watching JCC Jr so utterly uninspiring. (I was planning on being more loquacious but my ultimate point is just….bleh.)
emsc123 - February 5, 2012
Something about this comment really tickled me.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
I was rooting for Rubio
But the fact is the kid is a propbably alittle better than everyone probably thinks and/or wants to give him credit for.
Fun offensive style. Strong. Good chin. He comes to fight….which is a lot more than we can say for many.
I kept think how bad Lemeuix must be….to hae been beaten so badly by this same Rubio
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
Rubio’s victory over Lemieux was already knocked down a peg going into tonight by Alcine.
bachwards - February 5, 2012
Lemieux lost to Joachim Alcine after that, which is why I wrote off Rubio’s chances here. Rubio isn’t much
- decent C+ fighter. Chavez on his best days is a B. Today he was a C+ himself.Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
Chavez on his best days is a B-. Fucking idiotic autoformat.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
I really hate Chavez… and I think there is a sizeable portion of Mexicans that don’t like him but the guy makes at least eye friendly fights and lets his hands go.
Zocalo - February 5, 2012
The fans apparently let their hands go as well….doing the wave.
My position on JCC hasn’t changed. He’s and entertainer more than he is an elite boxer. You can’t take away his name or the fact that he is the privileged son of a icon whose name puts asses in seats. Given that, he could have been a Ronald Hearns and/or Hector Camacho jr and be total unadulterated bullshit…but at least he fights …or tries to fight…in an entertaining manner.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
Fair enough but losing once the way he did makes losing twice that much easier. More to come (losses) I suspect.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
I think the end result of this fight for me is basically, “Whoopty shit.” I thought going in this was maybe the 12th best vs 14th best middleweight, and that’s about what it looked like. Chavez had his worst night since Rowland.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
Ugh, I also can’t believe I’m already seeing apologists for a Chavez-Margarito fight. Margarito hasn’t even given any reason to believe he has respectable power at 154, much less at 160 against a guy who comes into the ring at 180. It would look like a replay of tonight, save for the inevitable early stoppage when Margarito’s eye swells up yet again.
bachwards - February 5, 2012
Margarito is a walkover. If Chavez fights the actual fight drunk, he will beat welterweight Margarito and his one fucking eye.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
Something something Margarito has an iron chin and is a true Mexican warrior something something.
bachwards - February 5, 2012
I sort of understand why a certain website gets a bad rap. They are easily influenced of what the HBO announcers are saying.
TheDemolitionDan - February 5, 2012 via iPhone app
Nevertheless, decent fight. Nothing we didn’t already know. Chavez-Rubio are around the same level of fighter.
TheDemolitionDan - February 5, 2012 via iPhone app
It was just forgettable. I didn’t think it was awful, and it did close well.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
I thought Rubio was awful given the oportunity he was presented with. Junior fought the fight he wanted to fight
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
Junior fought 60% of the fight he wanted to fight. I thought CompuBox was way off tonight, too. Rubio landed at will sometimes. He didn’t hurt Chavez (maybe once, which just woke Chavez up late) but he was landing a ton and constantly outworking him.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
Yeah but if you turned off the sound he was walikng Rubio around the ring almost at will.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
I watched it without sound. Pushing a guy back who weighs 15 pounds less than you is not impressive. Especially if you don’t really throw or land punches.
tkeithwhite - February 5, 2012
Not that I thought Rubio got robbed or anything.
tkeithwhite - February 5, 2012
He threw and landed
Rubio lost that fight letting the kid control his space
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
He was, but it was exactly effective aggression. He would come in and Rubio would land his fair share of shots. They weren’t hard, but it was, for the most part, out landed and out working Chavez.
TheDemolitionDan - February 5, 2012 via iPhone app
*wasn’t
TheDemolitionDan - February 5, 2012 via iPhone app
It was effective enough.
Was it special? No.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
I’ll admit, though, as I always will: There’s something real about Chavez that intrigues me. I really don’t know what it is, exactly, but he’s interesting. I believe I have a weird feeling deep down that he’s got one great, totally unexpected night in him. It might be that I don’t think Sergio Martinez hung the moon in the sky.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
He is better than BS which is more than I had originally thought......
I don’t know if that is a compliment but given the weight issues and what I understand to be less than stellar discipline in training, he did remarkably well.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
I can say this for boxing. At least we don’t have Nick Diaz.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
Lampley's glasses
Lamp’s glasses were the best thing ever. What a dirt bag. So Chavez looked the best I’ve seen tonight, but he is still nothing top notch. He is an elite club fighter. He knows he’d get killed at 168 against the top talent, even though the 3 old guys on HBO tonight think that is where he is going. I dont see it. I liked that he said wanted Martinez but that would be a beat down. Sergio is the man.
Boxing Examiner - February 5, 2012
Lampley’s hipster glasses are incredible. He must be really into twee pop right now.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
I’d like to hear him start making twee references during fights. “So-and-so will be ‘sleeping the clock around’ after that right hand!”
bachwards - February 5, 2012
As for my score, for the record, yeah I went 15-13 Rubio. I could watch it again and probably go 15-13 Chavez. I don’t have a problem with Chavez winning. 118-110 was really silly though.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
Not nearly as ludicous as giving WV2 a 115-113 card.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
Well, agreed. Maybe in a world where Vazquez hadn’t given away the first four. If that guy scored the KD round a 10-8 for Donaire, it means he had it 8-4 for Vazquez, which is nuts. Nuts nuts nuts.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
Absurd.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
The card...I mean.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
I watched it late on DVR. Scored it 116-112 for Chavez Jr. for what it's worth.
Chavez was often open for the uppercut, but Rubio didn’t take advantage.
Matt Miller - February 5, 2012
Rubio failed. Period. He hit the kid but his punches were mitigated/smothered by Junior’s controlling his space.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
except for a couple spots here and there
this pretty much sums it up.
Matt Miller - February 5, 2012
Yup – Brick noted during the fight that someday they might put him in with a guy who has an uppercut and it’ll be bad news. Tonight was not that night.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
Who would you most want to see?
The kid is enormous. I am amazed that he gained 21 pounds overnight and finished the fight. Talk about cutting/adding weight.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
You know, the fight I’d most like to see Chavez take at 160 is actually Matt Macklin. Obviously Macklin is busy but I think that fight would be a balls-out war. I like the Andy Lee fight a lot, really, but then I believe I like Lee more than you do.
I readily admit there are very few guys at 160 I think can hurt Chavez, and I don’t know if anyone could really knock him out. Maybe Martinez with his speed and slickness catching Chavez all off-balance, as JCC has, as some have said, “curious footwork.”
But he’s a hoss for a middleweight. Just a huge kid. I mean that 181 he weighed tonight was just the second-most he’s weighed in his last three: 185, 179, 181. What the hell was he doing before the Zbik fight if the 181 had a drunk driving charge two weeks before the fight?
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
And it’s not just because he’s big. I believe he has a really legit chin, and is a lot tougher than you’d expect of the stereotyped — and in many ways, quite true by all accounts — spoiled rich kid.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
I agree.
I think the haterade is not just understandable but warranted given his advantages bestowed on him thus far. I was more than a skeptic. I was a hater.
He of course is ‘well-matched’ but the truth is he is starting to look like something far more than I had figured. This isn’t TR talk because I can tell you they are unsure themselves and ready for the day or time or eventuality when he fails to do his job and gets beat.
If you tell me Macklin, I take your word for it. I havent seen him (besides his last fight) enought to judge. My guess however is that at LHW and above where Junior enters the ring, it is going to take a sharp shot to knock him down and out. It’s there for the taking but while his opponents may see it, they are starting to accumulate some seriously sore ribs trying.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
I really do believe Pirog would put Chavez on his ass and really have Chavez Sr. tearing up at front row for his son. Chavez is just so limited and I actually believe Lee would have a real great night against Chavez. I don’t know if people agree with me, but I think Lee is a better all around boxer then Chavez.
36_chambers_ofdeatH - February 5, 2012
I think we are about to see Lee/Chavez
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
chavez seems impervious to harm
nickfoxx - February 5, 2012
and enjoy’s getting in harm’s way
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
Mexican TV crew is worst
I’ve read all complaints about the HBO old crew, but believe me the mexican crews of TV Azteca and Televisa are very, very biased and even more dull at times.
jaibarra - February 6, 2012
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