By Mark Vester

Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. spoke out for the first time since last Saturday's lackluster split-decision win over Matt Vanda in the main event of a Top Rank pay-per-view from Mexico. Chavez's hometown crowd turned on him after the fight as they booed the young fighter for his performance and some even pelted the ring with bottles and other objects. Even Julio Sr., the legendary father, was unable to calm the crowd down. Many were upset over the scorecard of one judge who gave Chavez every single round in the fight.

Chavez Jr. was upset with his performance, but claimed to have been very ill during the week of the Vanda fight. Against better judgement, he refused to postpone the encounter. José Luis Camarillo of ESTO said that Chavez Jr's voice was almost unrecognizable when they spoke during the interview. Chavez Jr. thinks he fell ill due to sleeping all night with air conditioner running on high.

"Every day I slept with the air, and nothing happened. The day of the weigh-in, in the morning I woke up with a stuffy nose, with my throat inflamed and a fever. The doctor told me 'you have a high temparture.' I told him to give me something because there was no way that I was going to postpone the fight," Chavez Jr. said. "I put in a lot of time in camp and trained for over a month and a half and had no problems with weight. The doctor gave me some medicine, some tablets for the fever and gave me an injection."

"Early on I felt well against Vanda, but in the fifth or sixth-round I began to sweat too much and it drained all of the energy in me. By the seventh, I fought on pure instinct. I've tired in other fights, but this was beyond exhaustion. I felt like a dead person. When the fight was over I was carried in a small truck to the hospital. I arrived to the hospital vomiting. When the Vanda fight was over I was delirious and therefore my team carried me straight to the hospital.

Chavez Jr. says that any talk of retirement was just emotions running high after the Vanda fight,

"That was just the emotions of the moment, the truth is I was very disappointed and angry.  I believe some of the fans were unfair. What can they complain about? They can't say he beat me. Yes I fought bad in the last two-rounds, but I fought on pure instinct and there was action and it was a good fight. I think I put in a super-human effort because from the seventh-round until the end, I felt like a dead man," Chavez Jr. said.

Chavez Jr. says that he will take at least two months off, or more, to rest and get himself together. Prior to the Vanda battle, there had been some talk of matching Chavez Jr. against WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora in the near future (provided Mora beats Vernon Forrest in their fall rematch). He is ready to fight Mora if that's the direction his co-promoter Fernando Beltran will take him.

"I want to rest for about two months, but at the same time I want to maintain my trianing and taking care of my weight. And then do a fight with a real good opponent. I hope that Fernando Beltran gives me a harder fight (than Vanda). I don't know if he wants me to fight Sergio Mora for the title, but I am ready if that's going to be the next fight.," CHavez Jr. said. 

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