By James Blears
World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman stressed that he wasn’t impressed by Julio Cesar Chavez’s fight last Saturday, and he’s not making any bones about it.
Chavez Jr. notched up a win against Billy Lyell with a unanimous decision in his home town of Culican, but with an underwhelming performance, in stark contrast to his comprehensive victory against John Duddy in June last year.
Sulaiman noted that this time around, Chavez Jr. fought without passion, didn’t really vary a pedestrian one two punch routine, hasn’t really changed his style, and was open mouthed from early in a monotonous fight which wore on.
He told BoxingScene.com: “I would give Julio a C-plus grade or a B-minus grade for this fight. I was doubtful about any advancements in his boxing. I believe that he’s going through a very difficult period in which he’s trying to change an old style from forty fights, to a new style in the last two fights, and that is not easy for Julio.
“The Julio Cesar Chavez that fought last Saturday, will not be a world champion. To be a world champion, he has to change…only a little in tactics. He’s a good technical boxer. You cannot fight with a one, two, one two style and expect to be a hero. You have to come into the ring with a mental attitude to destroy.”
The spark which ignited motivation against fighting Irish Duddy, didn’t seem to be there in this fight, and Sulaiman noted it, commenting: “When he walked into the ring, he was not a person who was there for a big fight, he was there to have a fight.”
That said….Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is the WBC’s number one contender in the middleweight division, and his next fight is likely to be against Champion Sebastian Zbik of Germany.
