Will Chavez Jr. be the next fighter to dump Roach?

Will Chavez Jr. be the next fighter to dump Roach? By Robert Jackson: Over this past weekend Amir Khan announced his exit from the Freddie Roach camp and entrance into the Virgil Hunter camp. Under Hunter – as it was under Roach, Khan won’t be the 1st option, Andre Ward WILL be. Mike Dallas Jr is also trained by Hunter, just winning his 2nd fight with Hunter in his corner.

I for one think that this move is a good one for the simple fact that Hunter isn’t loaded down with a large stable of fighters to cater too, like Roach and Emanuel Steward (but that could change with the success of Ward and Dallas). Khan will get a lot of Hunter’s time to develop his technique and tactics in pursuit of championship. If Khan chooses to listen and not talk so much, his improvement WILL be evident right away.

Another Freddie Roach pupil lost big time this past Saturday night but had a chance to pull it out in the last round but didn’t. Severely outfought and out-boxed for 10+ rounds of the fight, it looked like Chavez Jr wasn’t TOTALLY prepared for what he would be facing. All of the pre-fight talk coming out of Chavez Jr’s camp sounded like Chavez Jr would be ready, and when he easily made weight that gave most observers every reason to believe that Chavez Jr was indeed ready.

Sergio Martinez fought with a broken left hand from the 4th round against Chavez Jr

By Marcus Richardson: Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KO’s) was forced to fight that last eight rounds of his bout with WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) with a broken left hand last Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fighting with mostly just his right hand, Martinez was still able to pound out a relatively easy 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 117-110, 118-109, 118-109.

Martinez’s trainer Pablo Sarmiento said to ESPN “I’d offer credit for not showing that he [Martinez] was compromised [injured] during the tussle. He suffered a broken left hand in round four.”

For boxing fans who don’t know already, Martinez is left-handed and his left is his bread and butter punch that he uses to knockout most of his opponents. With his left hand badly broken, Martinez was unable to get maximum power on his left hand power shots the way he wanted to against Chavez Jr.

With how easy it was for Chavez Jr. to be hit last Saturday it’s scary to imagine what Martinez would have been able to do to him had he had two good hands instead of just his right. This is why Martinez was forced to jab Chavez Jr. so often in the fight because his left hand was out of commission in terms of power punching.

Arum excited about a Chavez Jr-Martinez rematch, sees it doing big business

By Michael Collins: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum sees nothing but dollar signs in proposed rematch between former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) and Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KO’s) for early next year at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas. The pay per view numbers haven’t yet been released for last Saturday’s Chavez Jr-Martinez PPV fight but the word is that the fight did better than what the promoters Arum and Lou Dibella had hoped for.

Arum said to Examiner.com “They want to do an immediate rematch. This fight did unbelievable business. The next fight will do even bigger business.”

I don’t see it quite like Arum. I think the rematch will do well because Chavez Jr. is a popular fighter, and he’ll no doubt he able to pack the Cowboys Stadium with his devoted boxing fans from around the Texas area. However, I don’t think the Chavez Jr-Martinez rematch will do huge business on PPV, because the asking price was steep last Saturday night with a price tag of $49.99 for a card that was pretty much empty of big names and competitive fights.

Maravilla or Canelo?

by Robert Jackson,y photo: Alma Montiel: 2 champions were on full display this past Saturday night and neither one disappointed. Except for a glitch in the 12th round, Sergio ‘Maravilla’ Martinez was dominant, except for a stubborn Josesito Lopez, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez was dominant. A case can be made for either man to be the next opponent for one Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather.

With Canelo we have a 22 year old WBC 154lb champion whose skillset improves each fight. Facing Jose Lopez in the place of an injured Victor Ortiz, Canelo was supposed to win. Lopez who’d previously campaigned at 140lbs moved up to 154lbs to try and take Canelo’s WBC strap. If Lopez thought that lightning would strike twice as it had struck when he faced Ortiz, he was in for a rude awakening. Extremely focused, conditioned and strong Canelo took nothing for granted and made an early night of it for himself by taking Lopez out in 5. The moments that the always game Lopez had were few and Canelo always had an answer for them. After 4 knockdowns referee Joe Cortez had seen enough and stepped in to protect the overmatched Lopez from himself.

While Canelo was making easy work for himself; a few blocks down the Vegas strip Maravilla stayed true to his pre-fight admonitions to punish Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and that he did, winning rounds 1 – 10 in a workmanlike fashion taking a few from his opponent while giving many more to his foe. In the late rounds of the fight Maravilla with victory all but his began to slow down while also using less movement then he had during the fight. Maravilla was also taunting the youngster – sticking his chin out with his hands down daring his opponent to hit him. In the 12th round Chavez Jr finally caught up to the 37 year old and unleashed the fury he was unable to throughout the fight and down went Maravilla seriously hurt. If only Chavez Jr had more time, maybe he could’ve taken Maravilla out and pulled the upset ,but the master boxer Maravilla used all of his tricks to stay upright, finishing the fight and getting his hand raised.

20 Years Ago Next Month, UK’s ‘Dark Destroyer’ Nigel Benn Wins WBC Crown

By Rick Murray – Doesn’t time fly. It was early October 1992, and Nigel Benn -long-time labelled on both sides of the Atlantic as boxing’s most exciting fighter- is preparing to face awkward, cagey Italian spoiler and WBC 168lb. ruler Mauro ‘Rocky’ Galvano. Known for his smothering, ring movement, clinching and countering, as well as being a former light-heavyweight (Benn was a former middleweight), Galvano started as the betting favourite and pre-fight tip by all pundits.

Benn, known for his aggressive power-punching and bob-and-weave style, ripped up the odds sheets and tore into the Champ relentlessly for four rounds, cutting off the ring and landing body shots and right hands. Tough man Mauro was breathing heavily and bleeding profusely and the fight was halted. New WBC King, Nigel Benn -who would hold the crown for a further 10 (often-exhilarating) defenses.

Benn switched over in January 1987 after beating every man he faced in the amateur ranks as an Army boxer and ABA competitor. This included future pro prospect Rod Douglas -ranked in the top-five in the World amateurs- and other very good amateur stand-outs in Mark Edwards, Roy Andre and Johnny Melfah. He had 24 knockouts in 28 fights for the West Ham ABC in 1985 and 1986, and in the early eighties won every tournament he entered in the Army ranks.

Dibella: Boxing deserves a Chavez Jr-Martinez rematch

By Michael Collins: Lou Dibella, the promoter for WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, feels that the sport of boxing needs a rematch between Martinez and former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. after last night’s one-sided 12 round decision win by the 37-year-old Martinez over Chavez Jr. at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las, Nevada.

Dibella said to the LA Times “Boxing deserves a rematch. My philosophy is when you have lightning in a bottle, don’t let it go. A rematch probably sells out Cowboy Stadium.”

So let me get this straight. Chavez Jr. loses 11 rounds plus the fight, and then gets a rematch out of this? There’s something wrong with this picture because that doesn’t make sense at all. I don’t care that Chavez Jr. knocked Martinez down in the 12th. The fact of the matter is he couldn’t finish him off and it was Martinez who was pummeling Chavez Jr. at the time the 12th round ended.

Chavez Jr. will have major problems once he’s forced to move up in weight

By Marcus Richardson: In looking at how utterly clueless Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) was last night in trying to deal with the little bit of movement that Sergio Martinez showed him in winning an lopsided 12 round unanimous decision, it became painfully clear that Chavez Jr’s days as a championship caliber fighter will probably be over once he can no longer make weight for the middleweight division. When the time comes that Chavez Jr. can no longer melt down 180+ to 160 lbs to fight smaller middleweights, I think it’s going to be all over for him in terms of a champion type fighter.

Chavez Jr. is likely going to be completely lost at super middleweight, because those guys are going almost as big as him, but as so much more skilled, versatile and mobile. To be sure, there are some guys that don’t move very well at 168 lbs, like Carl Froch, but he makes up for it by his ability to throw counter shots as soon as he’s hit. But Chavez Jr. showed last night that he’s a fighter with a fighting style from a bygone era that just doesn’t have a place against well schooled fighters that know how to move.

Chavez Jr’s fans are celebrating the fact that he got a knockdown of a much smaller Martinez in the 12th, but he couldn’t even finish him off because of his lack hand speed and footwork.

Chavez Jr-Martinez could fight rematch in Cowboys Stadium: Anybody want to see another mismatch?

By Michael Collins: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is considering a rematch between his popular fighter Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) and newly crowned WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KO’s) at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. However, if the rematch comes off it will likely have to wait until 2013, because Martinez suffered a cut over his left eye that required 8 stitches to close as well as possible torn ligaments in his right knee after falling to the canvas after getting knocked down by Chavez Jr. in the 12th. The torn ligaments may require surgery to heal. The rehabilitation will almost surely keep Martinez out of action for the remainder of 2013.

Martinez and his promoter Lou Dibella are both understandably eager to face Chavez Jr. again. Martinez received $1.4 million for the fight, and he’ll likely get a nice extra chunk of cash on the pay per view upside. A rematch in Texas would likely mean another nice payday for Martinez, although it’s hard to understand why boxing fans would want to pay to see Martinez add Chavez Jr. fight again after last night.

It was completely one-sided until the 12th round when Chavez Jr. was able to hurt Martinez with a right hand and then put him down with a left. Chavez Jr. couldn’t finish the job, however, and actually ended up taking more shots than he was landing after he had Martinez hurt. That was the sad part. Even with Martinez hurt, he was still able to out-land Chavez Jr.

Marcos Maidana Stops A Game Jesus Soto Karass In Drama-Filled Slugfest – “El Chino” Back To His Entertaining Best!

(Photo: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME) By James Slater – Who doesn’t love Argentine banger and all-round warrior Marcos Maidana? Well, aside from the passionate, in-the-mood-to-celebrate Mexican fans who roared on their countryman Jesus Soto Karass inside a half-full MGM Grand last night, almost every fight fan loves “El Chino.”

Excitement personified, the 29-year-old did it again in halting a game Karass via 8th-round TKO. Last night’s win, which improved Maidana to 32-3(29), was actually a must-win fight for the slugger from Carlos Monzon country, as Maidana had looked quite poor last time out, in losing a wide decision to the slick Devon Alexander in a fight that saw the former WBA 140-pound champ make the move up to welter. But that loss came against a classy boxer/mover – Maidana’s worst nightmare. Put “El Chino” in with a man who will stand and go to war with him, however, and Maidana has a shot of both winning and thrilling the crowd.

It’s not clear how long Maidana – who was last night somewhat dwarfed and pushed around as a result of his size disadvantage – can hang with the elite at 147 (can he still make 140?), but one thing is sure: it will be value for money all the way for as long as Maidana continues to rumble. Last night’s performance was typical Maidana: he fought hard, he fought dirty and he fought like a man obsessed with scoring the KO. Chucking bombs from the get-go, Maidana showed he does have power at 147. The right hand a formidable weapon against the determined Karass, Maidana’s left hand was also effective.

“Please Stand By” Sergio Wins but With Technical Difficulties!

by Paul Strauss: What a night for boxing fans. Between Showtime and HBO, there were more fights than you could shake a stick at. The big record setting one was of course at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV. It was a grudge match pitting Sergio Gabriel “Maravilla” Martinez against the young title usurper with the bloodlines named Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.

Simply put, Martinez felt he was unfairly stripped of his middleweight title, and to make matters worse, it was given to this undeserving upstart who happened to be the son of a great fighter. Sergio was uncharacteristically vocal about what he thought was an injustice, and he was determined to set things right. Most of the experts and the odds makers agreed he was likely to be successful. On the other hand, JCC, Jr. was hurt and insulted by Sergio’s comments and determined to make him pay. Both promised knockouts.

Even with hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach’s help, it was thought to be unlikely that JCC, Jr. had the necessary skill and experience to pull off the upset, despite his father having done the seemingly impossible years ago against Meldrick Taylor. That was so long ago (1990), it seemed like a dream.
Critics of Sergio, including JCC, Sr. and Freddie Roach and other boxing purists don’t particularly care for Sergio’s style. When it comes to boxing technique, they feel he lacks fundamentals; although, they begrudgingly agree he is a superior athlete. Consequently, they believed he could be “gotten to” and that JCC, Jr. would be able to do so Saturday night.