Bob Levey - Getty Images
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr may face Andy Lee in his next fight. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
Though he wasn't one of the three names mentioned by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr following his win over Marco Antonio Rubio tonight in San Antonio, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com tweets tonight that Top Rank is already making a move to match Andy Lee with Chavez in his next fight.
Chavez (45-0-1, 31 KO) wasn't at his best last night in a somewhat sluggish performance, but got the win and marches forward. After the fight, he specifically named true middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, Miguel Cotto, and Antonio Margarito as fighters he was interested in facing.
But Rafael says that Top Rank has already talked to HBO about a fight against Lee (27-1, 19 KO), and the network is very interested.
This is a fight that actually came up in November after Chavez defeated Peter Manfredo Jr, but was ruled out due to the fact that Lee is a southpaw. That came from Top Rank, the choice to not match Chavez with a lefty. Apparently, after tonight's iffy performance brought on mostly due to suspected poor conditioning and preparation for the fight, they feel he's now ready for Lee.
I said then that I liked that fight a lot, and I still do. It's legitimately dangerous. Lee and Chavez are both flawed fighters, short on defense, who like to fight and throw their hands. Lee can punch and the southpaw aspect is a change-up for Chavez. It's certainly no easy fight if it actually goes through.
After that, apparently Top Rank really does want to do a fight between Chavez and Antonio Margarito, which I've said repeatedly is a crap fight but is unfortunately one that makes some sense. With both fighters being well-known Mexicans, it's a seller at the gate.
What hurts its credibility is that Margarito (38-8, 27 KO) is no middleweight. He was a huge welterweight, makes for an average junior middleweight, and however you choose to slice it, he's shown no real punching power since the night Shane Mosley almost decapitated him. By the time Margarito gets into a ring next, it may be four years since his last credible victory.
Oh, and Margarito has an eye that is always going to cut his fights short and all but ruin his chances at winning. There's not a halfway credible middleweight in the world I'd pick Margarito to beat at this point. He's a well-known non-entity now, a Mexican Ricardo Mayorga with a physical defect.
But the Lee fight, yeah, I can get behind that. Lee recently lost out on a bid to face Felix Sturm on April 13. Sturm will instead face Sebastian Zbik, the fighter Chavez defeated for the WBC belt in 2011.
0 recs | 17 comments
No interest in Lee at all. I know Manny Steward disagrees but I don’t even want to watch him lose.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
Screw it
Why not Have Chavez Jr. Fight Sergio Martinez sink or swim
I think win or lose Jr. will gain a lot more respect from the boxing world and it would be a fun fight for as long as it lasts
49erEmpire - February 5, 2012 via mobile
I have to know how much his daddy is influencing these decisions. He looks pretty pretty involved.
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
Junior is actually in a tricky spot with this “win or lose, respect gained” idea. Because the truth is so many people think he’s straight-up fugazi that if he loses to Martinez, and loses pretty badly as most expect, he could almost never convince those people that he’s the real deal. The desire to see Chavez face Martinez is more often than not boiled down to the desire to see Chavez lose, and in a large percentage of that, to see Chavez embarrassed and exposed as the fraud he is believed by many to be. It’s not like there’s a big market out there demanding Martinez-Chavez because they think it’s a competitive fight.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
If he continues to struggle making weight though, I don’t think that Chavez would have a hope against the top super-middleweights. Bute, Ward, Froch, Kessler and probably both Dirrell brothers would take him apart in a far more violent and one-sided ways than would Martinez. At least when he is at middleweight, there is only one guy that they have to flat-out avoid.
The Lee fight is a good step-up fight. If nothing else, at least Chavez is picking better fighters as he goes along. The only problem I have with him is that he can be called the ‘middleweight champion of the world’.
Eoin_not_ian - February 5, 2012
The unfortunate thing for Martinez-Chavez is that sergio doesn’t have the Pacquiao or Mayweather clout outside of the core fans. So if some casual fan were to watch not knowing martinez well it would look like he lost to some guy. That’s my interpretation of the situation anyway.
Joe Landry - February 5, 2012 via Android app
I don’t see Lee toppling Chavez Jr. but then again Chavez wasn’t exactly impressive tonight. Chavez has to get his every day weight down to 175 or else he’ll probably have a short career.
I’m always skeptical of these Mexican fighters that go pro at a young age and choose to fight professionally without much or any amateur experience. Things like fighting a South Paw shouldn’t be a big deal to you if you’ve fought enough Amateur fights.
RyanSexton - February 5, 2012
Quite a lot of those Mexican fighters have had pretty damn good careers. Fella name of Julio Cesar Chavez (the real one) went pro at 17. Had a few good years.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
Never in my post did I say it couldn’t be done! Certainly it’s a possibility, but I definitely think in a lot of cases you can tell who isn’t the best ring general. But it’s also to give credit to Mexican fighters who people consider ‘paper champions’ – 30+ wins to a Mexican is like 15 to an American… They are up-and-comers until they hit the high 30s, 40s, and early 50s, especially at the rate JCCJ is fighting.
He’s a good fighter, but it’s clear he takes easier opposition, but I don’t blame him, he’s young and has everything to lose and much to learn.
RyanSexton - February 5, 2012
I don't think they believe in Non-Profit
pakinpower - February 5, 2012
i like chavez in this matchup
lee’s proven he can lose to brian vera, while chavez seems impervious to harm and willing to walk through combinations in order to land his own
plus he’ll be like 185
nickfoxx - February 5, 2012
Good fight
Id like to see who can dictate the distance in that matchup.
ScottCL - February 5, 2012
Like the Lee fight. Like Scott mentioned, interested to see how he handles a southpaw with boxing skills and pop. Hopefully, after the Margarito beating, it will happen.
DPlainview - February 5, 2012
They’ll go for the undersize and blind fighter in Margarito
MontrealBoxing - February 5, 2012
Lee got off March 17 card, can he go back in since he must be training already?
MontrealBoxing - February 5, 2012
If he does it’ll be a Martirosyan-level fight, but I wouldn’t be shocked if that happens.
Scott Christ - February 5, 2012
I wanted Chavez-Lee after the Manfredo fight
I’m a bit less into it now, but I’m still okay with it. It continues the general trend of the past two years of gradually increasing the levels of Chavez’s opponents in each fight, though I guess one could argue about whether Lyell was a step up from Duddy, Manfredo a step up from Zbik. Still, the general trend is there.
I see Martinez and even Cotto as still being way too much for him, and I agree with Scott that most who want the Martinez fight just want it to see Chavez get his ass beat. I suppose the counter to that would be that if you actually think Chavez is the #2 middleweight in the world, he might as well challeng #1. But if you don’t have him as #2, I don’t see a good rationale for seeing that fight now. Better to see the most even matches for him possible and watch how high he can climb.
The fight I’d like to see him in at this point would be Daniel Geale. I very much agree that Margarito is a crap fight. I hope we can avoid it, but if not, I’ll certainly not be purchasing it. I’m glad we may be getting the Lee fight first. It’s a much better fight than Margarito.
geraldmcgrew - February 5, 2012
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