Chavez Jr. vs Lehoullier: Late Rally Plan For Jason
By Mark Vester
Junior middleweight Jason LeHoullier gets his big break when he meets Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on September 12 in Mexico. The fight headlines Top Rank's latest edition of their Latin Fury pay-per-view series.
LeHoullier had his share of bad luck in 2009. He was scheduled to fight the late Vernon Forrest on May 1 on Showtime. That fight never happened when Forrest withdrew with an injury. Then he was originally set to meet Chavez Jr on July 25. The fight was postponed when Chavez suffered a rib injury. LeHoullier said the postponement was a blessing.
"The postponement was kind of a blessing in disguise," LeHoullier told Seacoast Online. "It gave me a chance to increase my strength training with plyometrics. There's no doubt it will be a crazy atmosphere there. But I feed off that. I've had some extra training time and I'm a little more confident now."
LeHoullier's trainer and manager, Bobby Russo, is pleased with their training camp.
"As a rule, you can only do so much in training because you don't want to burn out," said Russo. "Strength wasn't a top priority for Jason because he is strong. But the plyometrics work has been great. Jason didn't necessarily need to improve in that area, but his explosiveness has improved."
Russo and his fighter know Chavez is still an unfinished product with very little amateur experience. They plan to exploit Chavez by taking the fight to unbeaten prospect in the late rounds. Chavez tends to slow down in the late rounds.
"If you don't have that amateur training, it's like you never went to school. He has a great record, but he hasn't faced elite-level fighters. I'm not saying he isn't a good boxer, but he has yet to be tested. If we can get through the first couple rounds where Chavez tries to come out strong, he can be beaten. We definitely want to take this into the late rounds. We're going to give it hell and hopefully Jason knocks him out," Russo said.
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