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By Jake Donovan - With his legendary father leading the way into the ring and cheering him on at ringside, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr continued the growth portion of his still budding career.
The second-generation titlist maintained both his unbeaten record and his alphabet middleweight belt with a hard-fought decision win over Marco Antonio Rubio in the main event of HBO’s first boxing telecast of the year Saturday evening at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Scores were 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113 in favor of Chavez Jr, who made the second successful defense of the belt he won last June.
As the comparisons to his father remains inevitable, Chavez Jr. continues to emulate the original model in all but giving away the first round of each fight. The action was slow, with Rubio dictating the pace on the occasion in which punches were exchanged between the Mexican rivals.
Chavez Jr. came alive in the second round, stalking Rubio and catching him along the ropes. The success didn’t carry over into the third round, as he was left to showcase the granite chin trait that runs deep in his family’s genes. Rubio enjoyed his most successful round to that point, with Chavez Jr showing his ability to take a punch, but hardly a sound formula for winning rounds.
The pace didn’t pick up very much in the middle rounds but was fought entirely in a phone booth. Chavez Jr. worked the body well, but appeared to be punching himself out early on – perhaps a testament to his struggling all week to make weight (159.5 lb at Friday’s weigh-in after stripping down to his birthday suit) and then piling on 22 lb. from weigh-in to the opening bell.
Rubio appeared fit and trim, but couldn’t quite come up with a fluid attack that forced Chavez Jr to change his ways. A low blow in the fifth round by the Mexican veteran actually benefited both fighters, as each seemed to be in the need for an unofficial time out. [Click Here To Read More]
The second-generation titlist maintained both his unbeaten record and his alphabet middleweight belt with a hard-fought decision win over Marco Antonio Rubio in the main event of HBO’s first boxing telecast of the year Saturday evening at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Scores were 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113 in favor of Chavez Jr, who made the second successful defense of the belt he won last June.
As the comparisons to his father remains inevitable, Chavez Jr. continues to emulate the original model in all but giving away the first round of each fight. The action was slow, with Rubio dictating the pace on the occasion in which punches were exchanged between the Mexican rivals.
Chavez Jr. came alive in the second round, stalking Rubio and catching him along the ropes. The success didn’t carry over into the third round, as he was left to showcase the granite chin trait that runs deep in his family’s genes. Rubio enjoyed his most successful round to that point, with Chavez Jr showing his ability to take a punch, but hardly a sound formula for winning rounds.
The pace didn’t pick up very much in the middle rounds but was fought entirely in a phone booth. Chavez Jr. worked the body well, but appeared to be punching himself out early on – perhaps a testament to his struggling all week to make weight (159.5 lb at Friday’s weigh-in after stripping down to his birthday suit) and then piling on 22 lb. from weigh-in to the opening bell.
Rubio appeared fit and trim, but couldn’t quite come up with a fluid attack that forced Chavez Jr to change his ways. A low blow in the fifth round by the Mexican veteran actually benefited both fighters, as each seemed to be in the need for an unofficial time out. [Click Here To Read More]
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