By Cliff Rold

30-year old super middleweight and former middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KO), 168, of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, ended a year and a half layoff in front of an enthusiastic and packed house at the Arena Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, on Saturday night with a workmanlike ten-round unanimous decision over 29-year old Dominik Britsch (32-3-1, 11 KO), 168 ¾, of Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Neither man was down in the fight and both gave the fan’s reason to cheer in a fight with plenty of exchanges. Chavez, the more physical and heavy-handed of the two, used his advantages to carry almost every round of the contest.

The referee was Sergio Hernandez.

The first round saw both men trying to establish their jabs. Chavez’s had the forehead of Britsch beating bright red while also finding a home for his left to the body as the frame wore on. Britsch looked for a right hand over the top, getting a few over the guard of Chavez.

From there the fight settled into a nice blue-collar battle. Britsch was outgunned, unable to muster enough power but still landing his fair share. Chavez walked him down, round by round, working to the body along the ropes. Neither man was the picture of punching accuracy but there were consistent exchanges. To his credit, Britsch kept firing back and never let himself be overwhelmed.

The closest it came to that appeared to be in the ninth. Chavez had a steady assault in the round and Britsch looked weary but kept his feet. It was enough for a gutsy trip to the finish line but not nearly enough for the win.

The scores were academic for Chavez at 99-91 across the board.

Chavez wins his second in a row since a knockout loss to light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara in April 2015. It was Chavez’s first fight since July of that year and he showed up in the best shape he’s been in for quite some time. Whether that means he can get into serious contention at 168 lbs. remains to be seen but he got the chance to work off some rust on Saturday.  

The card was televised in the US on BeIn Espanol, promoted by Zanfer.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene and a member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com