Chavez Jr. Improvements and Future!

In the main event of “Latin Fury” in San Antonio, Texas, on June 26, 2010, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30KO) defeated the “Dairy Destroyer” John Duddy (29-2, 18KO), in impressive fashion for the WBC middleweight silver title, taking my prediction record to an amazing 1-0 100%. After seriously considering retiring with an undefeated record and taking up professional wrestling, I have unfinished work, so the writing and prediction record moves forward.

While Chavez Jr. looked good in his victory, there is still much to improve but I commend Jr. for showing fortitude and taking a step in the right direction by changing trainers. He wants to be a better fighter and wants to leave his mark on the sport. He could easily have kept his uncles as trainers and kept fighting PPV fights against c-level fighters, making good cash doing so. But I do not think that is what Julio Jr. wants or what he wanted from the beginning. When you have people from all angles pressuring you to make money for them and the money is coming in, it can be hard to step up competition when things are profitable where you are at.

The fact that Chavez Jr. ever started boxing in the first place should tell you that he isn’t greatly interested in the money it provides. Julio Jr. comes from money and with his name and fathers connections, if he never stepped a foot in the ring, his chances of finding success would have been good in whatever endeavours he chose. But he chose to go into a sport where his father is considered by many to be the best fighter ever from Mexico and a bonafide legend. Jr. was a late bloomer as the sport would say and did not have an amatuer career where most fighters learn to box. If boxing were to be his chosen profession, then the criticism would be plentiful no doubt. Above all, he would constantly hear that he was in his father’s shadow. Still Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. chose to be a fighter because of his passion and love for the sport and the desire to climb all the way to the top to become a world champion. Now that Julio Jr. is with famed trainer Freddie Roach, he already looked more confident in the Duddy fight and I think we will see a more disciplined, patient, faster, better conditioned, better defensive and more powerful Julio Jr. as time goes on. He showed some of these improvements against Duddy in Texas.

The pop in his punch has always been there but he isn’t considered a big knock-out puncher but as his speed and conditioning get better, so will his power. In previous Chavez Jr. fights, we all knew defense had been his problem and some of that is because of his offensive problems as well. Jr. has had a problem staying patient and picking his spots, he would clod around the ring coming forward off balance winging wild shots. He hasn’t utilized his jab in the past like he should, overloading on the power punches up top head-hunting while ignoring the body. His lateral and head movement were lacking and he stood to straight up with his hands low, allowing himself to get popped with right-hands. Overall he has good skills and has shown to be at times technically sound, so we know it’s there. Against Duddy, Chavez Jr. was more patient, using good lateral movement while setting his feet and sitting down on his punches. He also employed better body work and popped a nicer, stiffer jab. His defense was better but he still has a ways to go, he got hit standing to straight up with a lot of right-hands and let Duddy get off first too often.

With Freddie helping to fix these problems (which we have seen Roach do more then once with other talents), I see Chavez Jr. improving by leaps and bounds. I, unlike many people who still think Jr. can’t hang with the top dogs, think with Roach in his corner that he absolutely can. The only fighters I think he absolutely will not compete with right now at 154-160 are Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez. I hear people saying he still can’t compete with top-ten ranked fighters, on the contrary I think he can beat some top-tens. I also could see him now giving Cotto, Angulo, Cintron, Spinks, Foreman, Pavlik, Sylvester, Zbik etc…, competitive fights, not saying he would win but he could share a ring with them. The next time Julio fights he will have had much time spent with Roach at the Wild Card Gym and I think with each fight we will see a better Julio Jr.

I’d like to see Julio fight a top ranked guy next but who knows if Arum will risk it at this point, not likely. With that said I think the next logical step would be a Joel Julio or the winner of Angulo-Alcine fight July 17, 2010. Also Miguel Cotto, Yuri Foreman (if recovered), or Winky Wright at middleweight. Angulo-Alcine-Julio are all good match-ups, Cotto is older in the twilight of his career and much easier to hit, and Foreman and Wright have no knock-out power. Not sure he wins any of these but I think he would be competitive and these fights would serve as a good barometer on any progression with Freddie Roach. Now that he is going to be thrust into top of the division fights, I think we are going to see Chavez Jr. lose a time or two in the next couple years but will also see him come into his own to become a world class fighter.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has a crowd pleasing style and with Roach refining it, I think Jr. will be a boxing star himself, on merit. He is only twenty-four and while he may or may not be able to beat those fighters mentioned above right this second, in two or three years I believe he will be competing at the top of the food chain and will realize a world title.

Predicitions 1-0, 100%

All Photos by Robert Hughes