By Dave Wilcox, at ringside
A wild crowd of 17,692 made their presence known at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Saturday night. Most came to see their hero from another time. The great Julio Cesar Chavez was back to say thank you and hopefully goodbye to his loyal and rabid fans. Although Chavez is 42 years old, going into the ring he looked to be in good shape. His opponent, Ivan Robinson on the other hand looked to have a spare tire around the midsection. Both guys fought hard and did the best they could, but it was obvious this was not the great Chavez of the past or the Robinson that beat Arturo Gatti in two wars back in 1998. Chavez showed flashes of the old body attack that broke down the likes of Edwin Rosario and Roger Mayweather, but in the end this was not fun for this Boxing fan to watch. As the fight progressed, the thoughts of watching Sugar Ray Leonard getting knocked out by Hector Camacho kept flooding my thought process. It was apparent that Chavez was winning every round and was in very little danger against Robinson. I just couldn’t help but think why is he in there. Because Julio Cesar Chavez was such a great Champion and brought so much to the sport, I suppose he deserved this opportunity to thank his fans. Throughout the fight, I couldn’t wait for it to end. Finally the final bell rang and I was relieved. Judge David Mendoza and Lou Filippo scored the bout 99-89. David Denkin scored it 100-88, all for Chavez. As negative as I was watching the fight, I was amazed how my emotions changed as soon as they announced the winner. The Staples center became a zoo. The Chavez fans gave an ovation to Chavez that is usually only given to Royalty. It was actually quite an emotional scene to see Chavez being carried around the ring while his sons watched. A great moment for a great Champion. Hopefully this will be the final farewell for Chavez. I have no desire to see the “Adios” tour continue. I would rather remember Chavez for what he was. Thank you for the memories Julio Cesar Chavez.
There were a few guys named Chavez on the card. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. had the honor of sharing the spotlight with dear old dad. Junior was in there against Adam Wynant of Indianapolis, Indiana. Having former Champ Richie Sandoval in his corner couldn’t save Wynant from his destiny this night. At 42 seconds of round one, Junior made quick work of the overmatched Wynant. The crowd started the familiar chant of “Chavez, Chavez,Chavez!” The young Chavez shows good skill in the ring. Hopefully pops will stop fighting and focus on the training of his son. Time will tell for Chavez, Jr., but he looks to be on his way.
The most talented Chavez of the night turned out to be Jesus Chavez. He took on the tough Carlos “Famoso” Hernandez in a battle of former Champions. As seems to be the trend lately with Bob Arum cards, these little guys put on a war. Non stop action from the first to the last bell. These two guys made the night in my opinion. Chavez came out quickly and seemed to be a little more active. I gave the first three rounds to Chavez with the third round being the most explosive. They traded big shots back and forth in the third round. In Rounds four through six, Hernandez started to come on and the war was on! Hernandez seemed to find the range, and I gave him rounds 7-9 on cleaner punching. Just when it seemed like Chavez might be tiring, he came right back to out work Famoso and win rounds 10 and 11 on my card. Going into round twelve, I had Jesus Chavez up by one point and this fight was far from over. As the two came to center ring for the final round they embraced as if they were long lost brothers. They must be related some how, because the genetics that give these two guys the will to fight so hard is rare indeed. The 12th round started and these guys looked like they came right out of a Rocky movie. They winged power shots from start to finish. In what has to be one of the best final rounds I’ve ever seen, Famoso won the round by the slimest of margins and on my card earned the draw. I reality, both guys deserved to win. What a glorious bout it was. My final scorecard read 114-114.
Judge David Denkin scored the bout 115-113 for Famoso Hernandez. Lou Filippo had the opposite and scored 115-113 for Jesus Chavez. I can live with either of those cards because the rounds were very hard to score. Max DeLuca was not watching the same fight we all saw as he scored it 117-111 for Chavez. In the end it doesn’t matter because a split decision either way is arguable. Both fighters earned victory even though only one received it. What a great fight between two good guys.
Other action:
-IBF Bantamweight Champion Rafael Marquez defended his strap by winning a unanimous decision over the very game Ricardo Vargas. Judges Marty Denkin and Fritz Werner had it 116-111. Gwen Adair had it 118-109. My card read 116-111 for Marquez. Vargas was a tough opponent, but just couldn’t do enough against the very talented Rafeal Marquez.
-On an undercard bout, former Cruiserweight Champ and Heavyweight contender Orlin Norris lost a majority decision to Albert Sosnowski of Poland. Sosnowski improves to 37-1 with 22 KO’s. Norris falls to 57-9-0-1 with 30 KO’s. Hopefully Orlin will follow his brother Terry into retirement.
-USA Olympian Vanes Martirosyan showed a lot of skill as he made quick work of Jovanni Rubio, knocking him out at 2:38 of round one. Martirosyan improves to 2-0 with 1 KO. Rubio falls to 6-6 with 4 KO’s.
-At 55 seconds of round number 6, Brian Viloria of Waipahu, HI. scored a knockout over Ruben Contreras of Mexico. Viloria improves to 17-0 and 11 KO’s. Contreras falls to 9-17-3 with four KO’s.
Press Conference:
-As is customary at a Bob Arum press conference, he took the opportunity to take shots at others. He “apologized” to the L.A. Times for cheap ticket prices. The Times wrote an article bad mouthing Arum for doing such a thing. He took time to make mention of the “Anglo” networks. I’m not sure what that meant, but I would assume HBO? If so, that seemed to be an unfortunate comment, especially since in the next breath he said he was off to New York for the HBO televised Miguel Cotto fight. I love Bob Arum and appreciate the fight cards he puts on, but sometimes he goes overboard with the bashing of his competitors.
-When asked who he wants to fight next, Famoso Hernandez said, “how about the guy who scored it 117-111?”
-I’m not trying to be too critical of The Great Julio Cesar Chavez, but do we really need to see this anymore?
-Congratulations to Top Rank for putting on a card with more fights than usual, but it still didn’t compare with the number of fights in the stands. Many of the fans missed some good action in the ring.
Keep punching