Surely The End For Julio Cesar Chavez Jr After Loss To Anderson Silva

By James Slater - 06/20/2021 - Comments

First he failed to make weight, then Julio Cesar Chavez Jr failed to take care of business against an MMA fighter who was stepping into his arena. Result: Chavez Jr’s career at anything like a significant level must now be over.

While living legend Julio Cesar Chavez Snr entertained the fans in Guadalajara, Mexico with a spirited four-round exhibition bout with Hector Camacho Jr, 35-year-old Junior suffered the shock upset at the hands of Anderson Silva last night.

(Photo credit: Chris Farina)

Having lost $100K for coming in at 184.4 instead of the agreed 182 pounds, the former WBC middleweight champion was then outfought and out-pointed. Silva, 11 years older man at age 46, took the action to Chavez Jr, with “Spider” dictating the pace and landing the cleaner blows.

In the end it was a split decision win for Silva, with two judges scoring for him at 77-75, with the third judge somehow managing to hand the fight to Chavez Jr by the same score.

Silva had actually had two prior boxing matches before last night’s bout, winning one and losing the other, but last night’s win is easily the biggest boxing victory of his career.

It shows us all how far Chavez Jr, 52-5-1(34) has really fallen, but credit goes to Silva. After the fight, Silva spoke of fighting again soon, while Chavez Jr claimed he was never hurt in last night’s fight and that he felt a draw would have been the fair result. It would not have been.

Chavez Jr will likely fight on but there will be no further fan interest, not any of real significance, anyway.

Chavez Jr is done. Silva, a genuine phenomenon in MMA in his prime (often compared to the great Roy Jones, who Silva wanted to fight, and maybe still does) looked energetic and sprightly last night. But again, much of this was likely down to how faded a force Chavez Jr is today.

It will be interesting to see who Silva fights next, and whether it is in boxing, MMA, or in an exhibition.