By Steve Kim
It was evident early on for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. that he was simply too small at 172 pounds against Andrzej Fonfara. From the very onset of that fight at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, on April 18th, he was out-muscled and then out-fought in what became a one-sidded drubbing that saw him quit on his stool after getting floored in the ninth round.
But to his credit, he is already back in the gym and working again with Joe Goossen at the Ten Goose Gym in Van Nuys. And the veteran trainer clearly stated - "He will never fight in the '70's, again, I can tell you that."
Super middleweight seems like the most likely destination but Goossen wants to go even lower.
"I believe, just based on us being back in my gym - and this is our second week, right now - and my gym is very, very hot, it's a sauna in there," said Goossen, of his hot-box which is located right in the heart of the San Fernando Valley.
"Julio, if you remember was off for 15 months for that last fight. That was 15 months worth of real weight. When you train down to 71-and-a-half, which is what he made and go up to '88, a lot of that is water weight because you can't put on 15 pounds of solid weight in a week. So it's mostly water weight."
Prior to the return versus Fonfara, the 29-year old, Chavez Jr. last fought on March 1st, 2014 versus Bryan Vera.
"So once you start training again, you start losing that weight quickly," continued Goossen, who then explained - "because number one: your body remembers what you're doing. When you're off for fifteen months it's hard to to kick start it to lose that weight but once you get that ball rolling like we did, the body responded."
In the past, Chavez Jr. would take long breaks after fights away from the rigors of training, but not this time around. And it looks like moving forward they will be conducting their full camp at Ten Goose and not in a resort.
Goossen said - "We got him back in my gym very quickly and the body has responded again and he's sweating up a storm, he's watching what he eats. Now, we'll probably look for something around '68 or less in the next fight. It might even be a catch-weight like the last fight, maybe '65 maybe '66."
There are rumors that Chavez Jr. could be paired with Lucien Bute in the early summer. Goossen wants his fighter to go back to the weight division where he was the most successful and won a major belt.
"But I honestly think if we continue to stay in the gym religiously like you should and you fight continuously or often, you will stay in fighting trim for the most part and I think eventually we can make 160. I don't think it's that big of a long-shot that we couldn't do it," he says.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
