By Jake Donovan
It began as a harmless sideshow, or so thought many in the boxing public, when Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. first turned pro a little over five years ago. But a lot has changed between then and now.
As time grew, the tolerance level began to drop considerably. It tends to happen when more attention is paid to a career that was never expected to get off the ground. But as his name and exposure grew, so too did the number of critics.
To the delight of far too many, the bottom nearly fell out earlier this year, when young Julio found himself in the fight of his life against American journeyman Matt Vanda. Chavez Jr barely crossed the finish line, receiving a split decision that many felt was undeserved – if not the verdict itself, then the manner of victory provided on two of the three scorecards.
Four months later, Chavez Jr. (37-0-1, 29KO) finds himself in the second rematch of his young career. A mere victory won’t be enough this time around. Anything short of a perfect game, and the gravy train will completely derail, when he and Vanda once again cross paths this weekend, this time in Las Vegas (Saturday, Top Rank PPV, 9PM ET/6PM PT).
Five years ago, it was almost impossible to envision the scenario where enough people would even care this much about his career, even if most are idly standing by waiting for the first sign of failure. Not even old enough to vote, Chavez Jr turned pro in September 2003, two months before his legendary father would mount one last comeback.
The plan at the time was for Julio Senior to conduct a farewell tour of sorts, first avenging a couple of losses before hitting various stateside locations. Julio Junior was to come along for the ride, long enough to build up a loyal following amongst his following, but never to the point where contender status would ever warrant consideration.
Then came the temptation for exploitation.
It wasn’t enough to just have him accompany Papa, not when Senior was only fighting every six months, if even that. Junior was already developing a reputation as boxing’s most ubiquitous figure, averaging almost one fight per month through his first two years as a pro.
Between local promoter Fernando Beltran, and stateside promoters Top Rank and Sycuan Ringside Promotions, Chavez Jr’s traveling circus act was poised to extend well beyond the borders of Mexico.
The first collective groan came early in 2005. A couple of hours before Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao would offer the first and most memorable installment of their trilogy, HBO’s pay-per-view arm decided to introduce Junior to everyone’s living room.
Appearing one card made perfect sense – along with Morales headlining the card appeared Jorge Arce, whose star power was immensely on the rise. It was as grand a time as any to introduce Chavez Jr as Top Rank’s next box office attraction, allowing him to earn while he learned.
Ryan Maraldo was brought in as the sacrificial lamb that night. To the delight of some and the dismay of others, Chavez Jr not only dominated, but looked like he could actually fight a bit.
Call it the beginning of the end for those who thought it would be a one-and-done affair.
One month later, it was Joan Guzman’s 12-round title fight receiving a downgrade the night of the show, bumped to chief support slot in favor of Junior’s scheduled soft touch eight-round showcase.
From there, it was a guaranteed appearance so long as Top Rank was the promoter of record – first on the Los Angeles installment of Senior’s “Adios” tour, then a month later on the Floyd Mayweather-Arturo Gatti pay-per-view undercard.
The passing of the torch from Senior to Junior came much sooner than expected when the former suffered an upset injury loss to unheralded Grover Wiley in Phoenix. Junior’s career would continue on, but his handlers weren’t anywhere close to being ready for an upgrade in competition.
No problem, said the boxing public, so long as it wasn’t its own problem. Only they would become involved. Those in full support of Junior’s growth period insisted that if you didn’t like it, you didn’t have to watch. But such a claim was easier said than done when the televised appearances came beneath such anticipated main events as Jose Luis Castillo-Diego Corrales II, Floyd Mayweather-Zab Judah, and shows headlined by, among others, Miguel Cotto, Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales.
A December 2005 draw to durable but unheralded Carlos Molina was overblown as a sign that the kid wasn’t ready for prime time, perhaps in false hope that the experiment would end.
It wouldn’t. The rematch came two months later – on a Top Rank PPV undercard, with Junior biting down and taking a well-deserved majority decision.
Perhaps the kid would finally break, right? Tough fights weren’t part of the program, so maybe he’d walk away realizing it was harder than expected.
Nope. Instead, Chavez Jr took a different approach; he actually improved.
The competition level didn’t advance much – still plucked from the same pool of Midwestern pugs, with respectable records built up against not-so-respectable opposition. But with each fight, new weapons were added to his repertoire. A well-placed left hook to the body here. A fight-ending combination there. Picking off shots and immediately making his opponent pay, rather than just mindlessly plodding forward and winging shots en route to gift-wrapped knockouts.
Part of the trick was finding opposition that would actually fight back, even if their chances of actually winning were slim-to-none. But his December 2007 battle with Rey Sanchez was one that broke all of the tour rules.
Sanchez, you see, could actually fight back. He had an amateur background and even though his pro career never got off and running, he had hardly embarrassed himself to where he could be written off as cannon fodder.
Home field advantage was also conceded to the Albuquerque native, the first time Chavez Jr truly entered enemy territory. Not that you could tell from crowd reaction; the weigh-in was evenly split in terms of fan participation, but they were whistling a different tune on fight night, with well over 6,000 strong on hand to support Mexico’s newest favorite son.
Still, it would take more than a room full of enthusiastic fans for Chavez to meet expectations on this night. Headlining a card that also featured Mike Alvarado, Jorge Arce and Ivan Calderon, Junior couldn’t take the same screw-the-pooch approach that accompanied much of his career.
This would be the night where we find out if the kid could fight. HBO wanted to see if he was worthy of a Boxing After Dark slot that had his name on it in early 2008. Top Rank wanted to see just how far beyond they could advance beyond the usual suspect level.
Six thrilling rounds later, everyone had their answer. Chavez scored an impressive, thrilling knockout win in a Fight of the Year contender. Less than an hour later, Top Rank thought they had his future mapped out. A planned April date on HBO, but not before he’d take on a Carlos Baldomir type on another in-house PPV show.
Then came the box office returns. Upward of 90,000 pay-per-view buys, for a show whose promotion barely extended beyond the grass roots level.
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum knew that he had a gold mine on his hands. Suddenly the April HBO date was no longer locked in, not when the promoter realized he could afford to go big dick with the network. At worst, he puts on another modestly budgeted pay-per-view show against the opponent of his choosing. Best case scenario, HBO ups the ante to his liking, at which point he’d allow the network to determine the choice of opposition.
The latter refused to blink, leading Arum to use 2008 as a water-treading moment in Junior’s career. Back to Mexico they would go, with every intention of screwing the pooch until some serious coin was thrown their way.
What was never counted on, was Chavez’ waning interest in training while so close to home.
His conditioning regressed with each fight in 2008, which began with a less-than-inspiring stoppage win over badly faded former amateur standout Jose Celaya.
Two months later, a lethargic performance preceded a 9th round stoppage win over undefeated but unheralded Giuseppe Loriga. The next step was to stage a “Son of Legends” grudge match between Chavez Jr and Hector Camacho Jr, who won on the undercard, albeit in unspectacular fashion. When it would occur was dependent upon how soon a Chavez hand injury suffered during the bout would heal.
Apparently, the wound healed quick enough to stage a summer showcase. For the first time in six fights and more than a year, it wouldn’t cost the viewing public a dime; a deal was reached to stage his ten-round fight with Matt Vanda on Azteca America for the wonderful price of free for those whose cable or satellite provider offered the network in their subscription package.
To those tired of holding their breath waiting for the next step of Chavez Jr’s career to commence, the free treat was considered a fair price, but the only reason they’d curb their bitching, if only for a night.
To Top Rank, Zanfer Promotions and Chavez Jr himself, the lesson learned that evening was that there’s nothing in the world more expensive than free.
For five rounds, it appeared to be business as usual. Chavez Jr was in piss-poor condition, but still in relative control of the action. Like his papa during his heyday, Junior spent the first round measuring up his heavily tattooed opponent, before unloading with a brutal body attack in the ensuing rounds.
This would normally be the point where the opponent would begin to wilt, where survival would become more important than trying to actually win. Only Vanda, a rare opponent that was naturally bigger than young Julio, decided to ride out the storm and see what the kid could bring once the power side of his game wouldn’t produce desirable results.
Chavez nearly crumbled as a result. Having struggled mightily to make the 156 lb. weight limit, stamina became a major factor once the second half began. Vanda began piling up rounds, or so it was believed by those watching either in attendance or from their living room couch.
Toe-to-toe warfare in the final two rounds upgraded the fight’s status from competitive to Fight of the Year candidate. The looks on the fighters' faces by night’s end told a completely different story than what would be rendered on the judge's scorecards. Vanda and his team celebrated in one corner, while Chavez Jr sat dejected on a stool while surrounded by his trainers and father in the other.
Young Julio's expression barely changed when hearing the final verdict, even in losing on an official scorecard (96-95) for the first time in his 38-fight career. An even rarer occurrence would be the crowd reaction, as boos filled the arena upon hearing scores of 97-93 and an absurd 100-90 in favor of Chavez, who escaped with a split decision.
It was so bad, that even Julio Sr, in attempting to calm down the crowd, was booed – in Mexico and on his 46th birthday.
Truly faced with adversity for the first time in his career, Chavez Jr would initially give skeptics what they wanted – an end to his career. He decided it was no longer worth it to put in the effort necessary to make it in the game that made his father famous beyond his wildest dreams.
Calmer heads would prevail in the ensuing weeks, with young Julio opting for a comeback. As was the case following the December 2005 draw to Carlos Molina, July’s near disaster had to be corrected before he moves on with his career.
Where to place the rematch became an easier decision the moment Antonio Margarito decided that he was done for the year. Top Rank opted to top off its November 1 pay-per-view telecast with the bout, headlining a night that also marks supremely talented Nonito Donaire’s Top Rank debut, amateur standout Matvey Korobov in his pro debut, still bankable Jorge Arce in a showcase slot, as well as rising undefeated talents Vanes Martirosyan and Lamont Peterson rounding out the show.
In Donaire, Martirosyan, Peterson and Korobov, Top Rank gets to display the future of their company. An Arce win could set up a potential showdown with Donaire in 2009. Needless to say, future plans for all of the aforementioned fighters are being made as 2008 comes to a close.
Where Julio Cesar Chavez Jr fits into those plans remains to be seen. At this point a year ago, the road to contention appeared to be traffic-free, with critics’ collective cries of fraud being further dismissed with each knockout win.
That was then, and this is now. Right now, there is no more wiggle room to be spared as he enters his 39th professional prize fight. A far more impressive win than was the case four months ago isn’t the hope, but the bare minimal expectation if the kid is to ever again garner a televised slot.
But even an impressive (read: dominant) performance won’t forgive the next time an opponent on the level of Matt Vanda is offered. Still three months shy of his 23rd birthday, only two directions remain beyond November 1 for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr – up, or out.
Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com