The story of Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr’s boxing career is a story best told by the face of his father, the three-weight world champion who sits ringside whenever his son fights. Though only a face, it conveys both the ups and the downs, as well as the plot twists and the pain, and never is anything left ambiguous or to one’s imagination.
When, for instance, Chavez Jnr won his WBC middleweight title against Sebastian Zbik, Chavez Snr smiled broadly, his face full of pride, and he congratulated the new champion by kissing his forehead. But then, when his son fought Daniel Jacobs eight years later, Chavez Snr was seen shaking his head and covering his face after round five, seemingly knowing that his son was about to pull himself out of a fight for the second time in his career.
By then, in 2019, Chavez Jnr was neither the fighter of old nor the fighter his father hoped he would become. He was instead living solely on the Chavez name and just trying to get back all the things he had once been given and had now lost. He was unable to make weight, he had no interest in doing drug tests, and all he was good for was a half-hearted impersonation, one that had become less and less interesting and believable with each fight.
Time had passed and so too, it seemed, had his love for the sport. No longer was Chavez Jnr the bright-eyed 17-year-old turning pro in 2003 to a life’s worth of publicity and a cruel amount of pressure. That Chavez Jnr was dead, killed by both the publicity and the pressure, and what was left were the only two things he had inherited from his father: his name and his chin.
Both were used to good effect during a brief run as WBC middleweight champion in 2011 and both are ingredients which, historically, tend to ensure a boxer remains in the sport longer than is perhaps good for them. In the case of Chavez Jnr, now 39, that theory would apply. We even have proof. On Saturday, the Mexican has agreed to fight Jake Paul, a former Disney star and YouTuber, in a bout he never would have predicted in 2019, when losing to Jacobs, much less in 2003, when following in his father’s footsteps and continuing a proud family tradition.
That it has become a reality, Chavez Jnr vs. Paul, shows not only the value of the Chavez name but how far its most high-profile carrier has fallen from grace. It also gives us cause to remember that Chavez Jnr was, unlike Jake Paul, once a serious professional fighter with some serious wins and names on his record. He was never his father, no, nor even a great champion or role model. But still, Chavez Jnr, when not quitting or causing controversy, did at least once show that he had something.
1) Opponent: Sebastian Zbik
Date: June 4, 2011
Even though it was a close fight, which could have gone either way, Chavez Jnr’s 2011 decision win against Zbik stands as his finest night because of the emotion of it all and the fact that it was his first. It delivered him his first and only world title – the WBC middleweight belt – and proved in the process that, when motivated and tested, he could really fight.
Had he been found wanting in that department, Zbik, a 30-0 German with a compact, robust style, would have been more than equipped to overwhelm him and spoil the party. Instead, Chavez Jnr managed to keep pace with Zbik throughout and was scrapping as hard with him in the 12th as he was in the early rounds. It was during that round, the last, HBO’s Max Kellerman said, “Chavez Jnr led a life of privilege, but he’s a real fighter,” and he was right. On that night especially Chavez Jnr demonstrated things that were either previously doubted or he later pissed away. He was, in other words, fully deserving of his father’s kiss at the end of the fight.
2) Opponent: Andy Lee
Date: June 16, 2012
Lee did all he could in a tiny 16-foot ring, outboxing Chavez Jnr early, but it wasn’t long before the Mexican’s physicality became the deciding factor in the fight. Even if Lee was winning, and he was, there remained a sense of foreboding as the fight entered its second half and Chavez Jnr’s body shots began to take their toll. By round seven, Lee was no longer moving as effortlessly as before, nor was he able to do enough damage with counters to keep Chavez Jnr off him. As a result, Chavez Jnr, freakishly strong, began walking in undeterred and was soon having his way with the Irish southpaw. Glued to him, with his head down, he forced through uppercuts and he whipped in left hooks to the body. He then nailed Lee with a right hand by the ropes, whereupon Lee’s body slumped and the referee, Laurence Cole, timed his stoppage to perfection.
While a good win at the time, Chavez Jnr’s victory over Lee became only better with the passing of time. Lee, after all, regrouped following that loss to Chavez Jnr and managed to win a WBO middleweight title two and a half years later.
3) Opponent: Marco Antonio Rubio
Date: February 4, 2012
Having for years been considered a privileged and pampered Mexican benefitting from opportunities other Mexicans deserved, it was important that Chavez Jnr beat a countryman in defence of his WBC middleweight title. That countryman turned out to be Marco Antonio Rubio, a heavy-handed slugger from Torreón whom Chavez outpointed over 12 rounds in 2012. Rubio, at the time, was on a run of 10 straight wins, with nine of them knockouts, and was deemed a serious test of Chavez Jnr’s championship credentials. Powerful enough to expose any fragility, Rubio appeared more than happy to trade with his younger opponent from the outset and would, on account of his success, later question the unanimous decision that went in Chavez Jnr’s favour after 12 rounds. Chavez Jnr, however, was convinced he had done enough. He also believed he had shown enough in weathering the Rubio storm to put to bed some of the scepticism surrounding his toughness.
4) Opponent: Jonathan Hernandez
Date: September 26, 2003
You won’t remember the name of the opponent he faced that day, but September 26, 2003 is an important date in the career of Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr for the simple reason that it was the day it all started. It was on that day the son of the great Julio Cesar Chavez officially joined the club, the profession, and brought with him, as baggage, both the good and the bad of the privilege into which he had been born. Where there would be opportunity, there would also be pressure. Where there would be fans, there would also be cynics. His first win, against Jonathan Hernandez (a four-round decision) in Culiacan, would do little to make up any minds, but it wasn’t long before opinions on Chavez Jnr’s potential, or lack thereof, were being voiced and shared. Of course, once it started, it never stopped.
5) Opponent: Sergio Martinez
Date: September 15, 2012
Although this fight was, for 11 rounds, one-sided in the extreme and no more than a showcase for Martinez’s brilliance, its final three minutes encapsulate what makes boxing such a dramatic sport and serve to summarise Chavez Jnr's career. A case of too little, too late, it was in the final three minutes of the fight that Chavez Jnr, having been outboxed the entire way, somehow and from somewhere found a second wind and dropped Martinez in a scene reminiscent of his father’s win against Meldrick Taylor in 1990.
It was, on reflection, a quite startling thing to witness. Even when Martinez had appeared hurt halfway through the round by a right hand, few would have expected Chavez Jnr to then nail him on the chin with two left hooks and send him spiralling to the floor moments later. But he did exactly that and Martinez, up at seven, was now a bloody, discombobulated mess, with half the final round still left to navigate. Chavez Jnr knew this, too, so was relentless in his pursuit of the finish and landed all manner of bombs on Martinez as the Argentinean tried desperately to find a rope or a limb to hold. In the end, rather than simply survive, Martinez fought fire with fire and relied on his courage to see him through to the final bell – which it did. But Chavez Jnr, if only for three minutes, had proved he belonged among the elite.
