By Chris Robinson
This Saturday night was supposed to mark another showcase for middleweight prospect-turned-contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. as the 24-year old was set to headline a Top Rank pay-per-view card from Anaheim, California. Chavez seemed eager to face off with Poland's Pawel Wolak, who was filling in for an injured Alfonso Gomez, but his plans would soon change as he has to scrap his appearance on the card due to a nagging flu that had been bothering him all of this week.
Adding to the frustration, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum recently revealed that given the recent developments a potential March fight between Chavez and WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto is now out of the question as he would prefer that Junior gets a few more fights under his belt before such a dangerous tussle. I reached out to respected boxing historian Bert Sugar and asked how disappointing of a close this was to the Sinaloa, Mexico fighter’s 2010 campaign.
“Well it sure as hell isn’t a good one,” Sugar opened up. “I know they have been setting him up for that fight. A big fight. Mexican vs. Puerto Rican, it’s always a big fight, especially in New York. So it’s a disappointment for boxing fans as much as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.”
It’s almost hard to envision Chavez Jr. in these type of meaningful fights, figuring he was winning a tepid decision over Troy Rowland at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas just a year ago, but he has shown tremendous improvement since linking up with Freddie Roach at the trainer’s Wild Card Boxing Gym in late April. I asked Sugar how impressed he was with Junior’s decision over Irishman John Duddy in June and he tipped his hat.
“I was pleasantly surprised. No, he’s not his old man. He’s got his own style and he’s certainly improved in quantum leaps.”
With Chavez now out of the equation this weekend the spotlight will shine even brighter on budding star Nonito Donaire, whose contest against former champion Wladimir Sidorenko now takes main event status. Donaire’s blend of speed, power and unorthodoxy make him one of the game’s most unique talents but Sugar feels we may have spent too much time waiting on him to break out yet again.
“Well, he’s a good, good fighter,” Sugar noted. “I just know that everyone is looking for that next big fight and I don’t know if he is there yet. It’s probably the same with Andre Berto. We’re waiting for breakthrough fighters to be marquee fighters. They are going to have to fill certain voids that are going to pop up like Paul Williams with his loss or retirement. Boxing is looking for that next big star.”
Donaire became a champion in grand fashion when he iced verbally berating Vic Darchinyan three years ago with a beautifully placed counter left hook. It was a breathtaking moment for sure but you can sense just how disappointed Sugar was simply because the Filipino pugilist couldn’t capitalize on his momentum.
“Darchinyan is there to be hit,” Sugar claimed. “He’s got one of the strangest boxing styles that I have ever seen. He looks like a crab that got stranded on a beach and doesn’t know which way to go. He’s there to be hit. And Donaire showed some great power but we need more exposure. The whole point of this is exposure and if you’re not out there constantly and continually then the fans can’t see you. Like Sergio Martinez, he suddenly came from nowhere. And anyone who saw that knockout now has it in their minds ‘This is one hell of a fighter’. But if they didn’t see him they don’t know that.”
Donaire revealed that he had signed a two-fight contract that would entitle him to a crack at WBC and WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel this February, a contest that would like end up at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. It is one of the best fights to make in the sport but Sugar doesn’t seem to be holding his breath.
“I think it’s a good matchup,” he insisted. “I think both of them have a lot to gain and so does, not incidentally, boxing. It sounds like a good matchup to me. But there have been so many potential matchups that don’t really come to fruition, that don’t come to be. I mean boxing is great for rumors as whom is going to fight whom. You sit there and wait and the rumor goes away.”
Switching gears just a bit I asked Sugar if he gets just as excited seeing fighters like Donaire from the lower weight classes as he does the higher divisions. His response was both witty and factual.
“Yes, but I’m not sure the generic public does,” Sugar revealed. “The reason I say that is Americans are still caught up in their mental underwear, an obsession almost, with the Heavyweights. It goes back to John L. Sullivan. They want to see Heavyweights because they hit harder. Americans love bigger things. They love bigger banks accounts, bigger cars, bigger chested woman and bigger fighters.”
Donaire seems to be slightly living in the shadow of his country’s biggest star, Manny Pacquiao, and there seem to be huge expectations that come along with his duties as a prizefighter. Pacquiao has captured the sport’s fascination in a way very few fighters do in recent years and fighters like Donaire seem to suffer an unwarranted amount of criticism for not replicating his every feat.
Usually one to speak in depth, Sugar seems disinterested by such thoughts.
“That’s not fair any more that you can compare one American fighter to another. And if they do they are silly.”
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. An archive of his work can be found here, and he can be reached at Trimond@aol.com
