By Rob Smith: If WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KO’s) is smart, he’ll try and come into his June 16th title defense against challenger Andy Lee (28-1, 20 KO’s) as light as he was when he defeated John Duddy in 2010. Chavez Jr. was light and quick on his feet in that fight. Granted, Chavez Jr. got rocked in the 6th round and was hit quite a bit, but he still was a whole lot better than he’s looked in the fights since then.
Chavez Jr’s weight has sky-rocketed to where he now routinely comes into his fights weighing 180 pounds after he rehydrated after weighing in at 160. Chavez Jr’s fans mostly approve of him coming in heavy, because they see it as an advantage for Chavez Jr. Some fans see this as Chavez’s main advantage, noting that he doesn’t have huge power or really fast hand speed.
However, if you look at how much punishment Chavez Jr. suffered in his fights against Sebastian Zbik, Billy Lyell and Marco Antonio Rubio, then you’d hope that Chavez Jr. would do the smart thing by working on his diet to get down to a lighter weight for his fights or move up in weight to light heavyweight or cruiserweight so he could have more room to eat.
Lee hits harder and is a lot faster than the guys that Chavez Jr. has fought previously. The biggest shots that Chavez Jr. has been hit with in his career will be nothing compared to the big shots that Lee is landing against him in every round of the fight. It won’t be just an occasional big shot that Chavez Jr. will have to eat from Lee. He’ll be getting hit with Lee all night, and it’s going to be a real test of Chavez Jr’s chin whether he can continually absorb those kinds of big shots without hitting the deck and getting knocked out.
If Chavez Jr. comes into the fight a big heavy, sloppy middleweight then he’ll be basically giving the fight way on June 16th. Chavez Jr. can’t take big shots on a frequent basis in this fight because something will eventually give and I doubt it’ll be from Lee’s end. He can punch all night if he has to. He’ll be giving it to Chavez Jr. and moving around to avoid his return fire.