By Miguel Rivera
Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. has fired back at Roberto 'Hands of Stone' Duran.
BoxingScene.com reported on Monday that a war of words erupted between the two Hall of Fame boxing legends.
The verbal battle began when Duran lashed out at Chavez Sr. over the upcoming all-Mexican mega bout between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, which takes place on May 6th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Duran says the Mexican legend should have protected his oldest son and never allowed him to go forward with the Canelo fight, scheduled to happen at a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds.
Duran fears for the safety of Chavez Jr. and believes that he not only has absolutely no chance of winning, but will suffer a big beating in the contest.
He says Chavez Sr. should advise his son to withdraw and not go forward with this planned HBO Pay-Per-View bout.
"Look I'm being frank here, and with all due respect to Chavez, and I will say it to Chavez's face, he does not know anything about boxing. I'm talking about the father, with the respect he deserves, I do not see how his son can beat Canelo. And if his son were to beat Canelo, then I would tell Canelo to retire becaue he's finished," Duran told ESPN Deportes.
"Chavez, he knows what I'm saying, he do not know anything about boxing to beat Canelo. If I was Chavez's father, I would tell him not to go through with this fight."
"I saw Chavez's last fight and it was very bad, and he was in the ring with a dead man (Dominik Britsch) And if he thinks that Canelo is easy, I see it ending badly. This has nothing to do with size, I do not see how [Chavez] can win it, so I apologize (to Chavez Sr)... and if he gets mad I do not care, if he does not want to talk to me anymore I do not care - but your son does not beat Canelo. I'm telling you, Robert Duran is telling you."
Chavez Sr. hit back, stating that Duran is very bad at telling the truth.
A while ago, the two former champions were scheduled to face each other in an exhibition fight in Las Vegas. According to Chavez Sr., the Nevada State Athletic Commission wanted both of them to undergo drug testing for the match, and Chavez Sr. is claiming that Duran refused to get tested for performance enhancers.
"With all due respect, what he says is incoherent. He knows that I have always had a great respect for Roberto Durán, but he is incoherent when talking about the truth," Chavez Sr. told ESPN Deportes. "I respect his point of view, but I think there are inconsistencies. The truth is not understood very well when he's the one talking about it."
"The Nevada Commission wanted us to do anti-doping, but Roberto Duran said that he did not want to do it. The only thing I can say is that he says that I don't know anything about boxing ... I had 115 fights, I was unbeaten in 90 fights.. unbeaten ... tell me if I do not know anything about boxing. Look at what Roberto Durán says, that in Julio's last fight he looked very bad. What fight was he watching?"