By Emilio Camacho, Esq. Several of you have emailed me asking for a prediction for the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. v. Sergio Martinez fight. By popular demand, here it is. First, I want to note that I am making a bold prediction because almost all experts expect the fight to go to decision and most expect Martinez to win on points. I am partly going a step further and here is why.
First, let us look at Chavez. He has youth, great conditioning, a granite chin, a size advantage, and the benefit of having his father’s advice. However, he lacks world-class experience and, the best fighter he faced, Andy Lee, in my opinion, was a overrated. More significantly, Chavez does not use his height advantage at all because his fighting style is better tailored for someone smaller like his father.
Although Roach has attempted to get him boxing a bit more to use his reach advantage, he falls back into brawler mode and looping punches to the body quite easily. Given these considerations, the only way I see Chavez winning this fight is if he is able to slow Martinez down with body shots, get Martinez on the ropes or fighting close, and pound the middle weight champion to submission with his weight advantage and relentless aggression. However, I believe this is unlikely to happen as I will explain after I analyze Martinez’s advantages.
by Robert Jackson: The ‘Just the facts’ series has held court for many fights dating back to the Mayweather/De La Hoya matchup, and since then has offered a technical perspective in regards to the upcoming ‘BIG’ fight, ending with the big reveal. Today’s edition will analyze and try to figure out the viability of ‘the Son of a legend’, and also, Argentina’s own Maravilla. Trainers, training and conditioning, and the all important intangibles will be discussed and dissected.
(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Paul Strauss: What’s a silly movie made in 1966, starring Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers and Buster Keaton got to do with this Saturday night’s HBO PPV fight night at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV? Maybe it should be rephrased to …….”Life is what happens when you’re making plans”, or in this case game plans.
By Joseph Herron: Great trainers insist to every fighter who walks through their gym to leave all emotion at the door. The sport of pugilism is not about violence, but built on sportsmanship, discipline, and athleticism.
By Michael Collins: In looking at how average WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) has looked throughout his boxing career, including his time as the WBC 160 pound champion, one has to wonder whether the 26-year-old Chavez Jr. would be as popular as he is now if his father wasn’t the famous former boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. Chavez Jr. is able to draw huge crowds in stadiums and draw big ratings on HBO despite looking very mediocre.
By Dwight Chittenden: If things go the way that Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) envisions them to be this Saturday, WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) is going to experience a lot of pain and suffering in taking his first loss of his career when they fight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
By Robert Jackson: Now that we’ve gotten Ward/Dawson out of the way, what’s up next is the Martinez/Chavez Jr fight! The winner of this fight could rightfully be in line for a BIG money PPV match-up against the undefeated Andre Ward. An undefeated Chavez Jr facing and undefeated Ward would be the better match-up unless…Martinez puts on a virtuoso performance while beating Chavez Jr.
By Robert Jackson: Yesterday, I wrote a piece asking the question as to whether Julio Cesar Chavez Jr was just putting on an act for the cameras which showed him ‘slacking off’ while training for his September 15th fight against Sergio Martinez. HBO’s 24/7 docudrama featured Chavez Jr. deliberately missing scheduled training sessions, sleeping in, and not training at all in one case. In fact Chavez Jr’s body didn’t look as toned as it could be to engage in an upcoming professional fight.
By PADRE – Who needs Mayweather and Pacman, when the boxing fans have been spoiled as of late, with various intriguing matchups. Another blockbuster one is coming up this Saturday when Sergio Martinez takes on Julio Chavez Jr. I will cut to the chase and spare you all the scenarios and say that I pick Sergio Martinez to beat Junior decisively. Sergio is a better boxer with great foot work , power and a fighters IQ that outclasses Junior. I honestly think we may be seeing a repeat of Pacman vs Margarito. I just hope that this time someone in Junior’s corner has the sense and decency to stop the onslaught and remember that he still has a future in boxing, if he doesn’t take a battering. We all see that Margarito never recovered from that beating and ended up retiring. There is only one caveat, only one major issue that I see that may cost Sergio the fight. It’s not Juniors size, which I think will actually be a disadvantage if he comes in heavy as Sergio is a nimble fighter, nor is it Juniors chin which is very good but if you chip away at any chin, it eventually crumbles. Nor is it the punching power of Junior as he wings wide shots and Sergio shoots short crisp shots down the pocket and will do so all night. No, it’s the utter disdain that Sergio has for Junior.