19.04.08 – by James Slater: There is more exciting boxing action next Saturday night. Ok, it’s not quite as exciting, or as big, as tonight’s huge Calzaghe-Hopkins showdown, but the Julio Cesar Chavez Junior Vs. Tobia Giuseppe Loriga match-up should be worth catching. The young Chavez is always in good, entertaining fights, and it will be interesting to see what his Italian rival in Loriga brings to the table..
I must confess, I know practically nothing about the 31 year old Loriga. He has never boxed outside of his native Italy before (as a pro, anyway – he may have done so as an amateur, I don’t know) and there are no immediately recognisable names on his record. The Italian is unbeaten, however, and he has won a number of small titles in his career – the IBF International light-middleweight championship for one. The 31 year old is in no way a big puncher, though. With just 6 KO’s from his 24 wins (1 draw) the main difficulty Loriga will likely encounter next week is actually being able to put any hurting on the, also unbeaten, Chavez Junior.
As for the Italian’s chin, again I don’t know. This really is the acid test for Loriga, and he may well rise to the occasion and box the fight of his life. Against the powerful Chavez, in Mexico, he will need to. Junior, now aged 22 and with a fine 35-0-1(28) record as a pro, is coming off his most difficult fight to date, though. Or at least one of his most difficult. Last time out, against the clever and talented southpaw, Jose Celaya, Chavez Junior took a number of headshots. Finally getting the job done in style with an 8th round TKO stoppage, young Julio knew he’d been in a tough fight. Once again the critics were somewhat harsh on his boxing abilities.
What Chavez does not need next Saturday is another fight in which he appears confused and easy to hit – as he did against Celaya at times. Against his imported opponent, this should not be a concern. The truth be told, unless he is a lot better than his record and KO percentage would have us believe, this should be a relative showcase of a fight for the son of a Mexican legend. Chavez Junior is taller, has a longer reach and hits harder. Most importantly, though, may be the fact that Loriga isn’t a southpaw.
Look for Chavez to encounter none of the problems he had to endure against his tricky lefty opponent last time out. A relatively easy, confidence reinforcing KO should instead be on the cards, as the 22 year old prospect takes care of business well inside the distance.