By James Blears
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is going to have to score top marks, or go one better than that against Jose Celaya to continue his onward and upward quest for a world championship.
The two clash for the WBC’s Continental Super welterweight belt, in Leon, Guanajuato on February 9th. The promotion is called "Latin Fury." But when the two met up in Mexico City, both were cool, calm and collected.
Julio Jr. had Dad in tow, which considerably heightened the interest of media from far and wide.
Almost overlooked in the media circus, a mostly unsmiling Jose Celaya stressed that he’s determined to make this the toughest fight of the younger Chavez’s career. He commented: “This is a real opportunity for me, and the biggest fight of my career. Beating Chavez will open doors for me, and it’ll get me closer to a world championship.”
Southpaw Jose, can draw on a considerable reservoir of experience. He had 92 amateur fights and only narrowly missed selection for the US Olympic team which went to Sydney. As an amateur, he defeated Demitrius Hopkins, Dimitriy Salita and Kelly Pavlik. He’s also trained extensively with Sugar Shane Mosley.
Jose has had plenty of time to study young JC and he said: “Junior is very strong, tall and rangy. But he also has a lot of weaknesses. People see him, like he’s a great fighter but he’s not. He’s not there yet. Don’t be surprised when I beat him, because I’m going to out box him. He’s going to be surprised how quick I am in the ring.
“I’m a lot better than his last opponent Ray Sanchez. I’m a lot bigger and stronger. I’m going to use a lot of boxing skills like Pernell Whitaker did against Julio Cesar Chavez.”
Jose Celaya has lost three times in his thirty-four fight pro-career, in which he’s scored sixteen knockouts. Julio Jr. remains undefeated after 36 fights with just one draw. He has notched up twenty six knockouts.
Julio Jr. says this is an extremely important fight for him and he’s not taking Jose Celaya lightly. He said: “Jose is a good fighter and better than my last opponent in December. I’m preparing very well for this, and with the help of my promoter I’m ready for even better things. Possibly at the end of this year or the beginning of next, I’ll be fighting for a championship. I don’t feel any pressure about being undefeated. I take and consider each fight one by one.”
Dad, who’s just signed up as a commentator for TV Azteca and will be doing the round by round analysis of his eldest son’s fight, said the following: “Julio is dedicating himself completely. He’s been working very well in Culiacan and this weekend we’re going to Guadalajara for two weeks more preparation. It’s going to be a quite a difficult fight and we’re going to see what Julio Jr can do.”
Julio Jr’s promoter Fernando Beltran sees this as an important stepping stone test in his career. He explained: “This will be a terrific fight. I really believe Julio Jr. is going to be a World Champion. To do that, he needs to beat this type of guys. But for a title fight, we’re going to go down to welterweight.
“Julio Jr got a very good punch, he can take a punch, but he needs to improve more by throwing more punches during the rounds.
“That said….I’ve not only got a champion on my hands, but a superstar!”
