By Thomas Gerbasi

“I haven't been 100% all the time, but my career has had lots of accomplishments,” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. said on a recent media teleconference. “I was the first Mexican to win the middleweight world championship. I've been a world champion. I've defended my belt. In addition to that, I've beaten really great fighters. And I have a record of 48 and 2. So it's not fair to say that I haven't accomplished a lot and haven't been prepared all the time.”

He’s not exactly right on all points, but he is on at least a few, and it makes you wonder how we would perceive the 29-year-old from Culiacan if he was named Julio Cesar Smith. Would we call him a great fighter, or at least a potential great? Would we dub him a throwback fighter because he’s fought 52 times before the age of 30? Or would we even be talking about him at all if his last name wasn’t Chavez.

It’s all fine for speculation’s sake, but in the here and now, as Chavez prepares for a Saturday bout against countryman Marcos Reyes, he’s pictured by many as someone who not only won’t live up to the standard set by his father - Hall of Famer Julio Cesar Chavez - but as a young man who doesn’t even want to be in the ring, one who quit on his stool when the going got tough against Andrzej Fonfara in April.

No, he’s no “El Gran Campeon Mexicano.” But then again, no one else has been either. When I wrote about Chavez Jr. for the UK’s Boxing News back in 2012, I spoke to Ricardo Jimenez, one of the sport’s great publicists, and someone who is an expert when it comes to Mexican boxing, and especially Chavez Jr., as he worked with him from his early days with Top Rank.

“Nobody has even filled his (Chavez Sr.’s) shoes and we’re talking about a lot of great Mexican fighters that have come along in the last 20 years,” Jimenez said. “And no one’s been able to even come close to him.”

So why should Junior be expected to live up to Senior’s accomplishments in the ring or in the heart of fight fans? He never was going to do that, and he never will, but no one else will either. It’s like saying someone will be the next Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson. It’s just not going to happen. Yet the only who has seemed to accept this from the start has been Chavez Jr. He never claimed to be his father.

“A lot of people have criticized me and said a lot of things about me and I never answer anybody because I am who I am,” Chavez told me before he fought Sergio Martinez. “I’m not gonna talk bad about anybody, and my actions speak for themselves. I’ve gotten here because of the work I’ve done, and that’s what I’ll continue to do. I just want to do my best and I want people to know that I have my own history, my own story to tell, and I’m a separate person.”

The Martinez fight in September of 2012 should have established that once and for all, but two things happened that night: a) he lost and b) he almost won in the fashion in which his father stopped Meldrick Taylor in their first fight, as he dropped and nearly stopped Martinez in the 12th round after losing practically every one of the previous 11.

If he won, he would have beaten the best middleweight in the world and carved out his own niche in the history books. If he wins by stopping Martinez in the 12th round, he is still – and will always be – Junior.

The former scenario would have been ideal, the latter less so in terms of public perception, but still good enough to answer several questions. Instead, he loses a lopsided decision, continues to battle the scale, the man in the mirror, and barbs from the outside world, and after two victories over Bryan Vera, decides he has enough after running into too many lefts and rights from Fonfara.

“I took on a challenge that was tough,” Chavez said. “I fought somebody who was 175 pounds. I fought somebody after two years of being inactive (Ed. Note - actually one year). There were a lot of things going on in my career, including the legal problems that I was going through at the same that I was trying to get ready for a fight. It was a tough challenge. Even though it was a defeat for me, I feel like I was a better fighter than him. But he was more prepared. I think that those were the factors. I plan to win this next fight.”

With any other name, he would not be back on premium cable facing Reyes Saturday night. But he is Chavez, a blessing and a curse, and even though you might chalk his high-profile return up as an example of boxing fans being forgiving, it’s more a case of that name still being enough to draw in viewers and ticket buyers. Yes, Junior never wanted to be a clone of his father, but he knew that having his name would take him further than if he was someone else’s son.

“He (Chavez Jr.) told me ‘It’s never gonna change,’” Jimenez said in 2012. “‘I’m gonna be criticized, but I also know it opens a lot of doors for me, and the opportunities for me are greater than a guy named Smith, Torres, Garcia, or whatever, so I have to take advantage every step of the way.’”

And he has. He’s gotten chances other fighters of a similar skill level would kill for, and he’s remained relevant despite several lost opportunities, weight issues and out of the ring setbacks. But it’s very possible that Saturday could be his last stand. In his first fight since the Fonfara bout, he faces a fighter he should beat, but also one he must beat impressively. Chavez knows what’s on the line.

“If I lost this fight, then it would make me think about retiring because this is not the type of rival that should beat me,” he said. “The type of rivals that I fought are much better and tougher than this rival. I'm not planning on losing. I'm planning on winning. Obviously, I have to win this fight. I have to be great.”

Maybe now, 52 fights in, JCC Jr. gets it.