CHAVEZ IMPRESSES IN RETAINING HIS WBC TITLE, FACES SERGIO MARTINEZ IN SEPTEMBER
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 17 Jun 2012
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, continues to slowly but impressively move out of the shadow of his legendary father Julio Cesar Chavez Sr and took one more step in carving his own name with a smashing 7th round TKO over former Olympian Andy Lee at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas.
Lee, who was the taller fighter, used his left jab to keep the bigger Chavez Jr at bay in the early rounds before the World Boxing Council middleweight champion picked up the tempo in the fourth round and hurt Lee with some big body shots and clubbing right hands.
Chavez Jr demonstrated his strength and power as the fight progressed and it was only a matter of time before referee Laurence Cole would step in and call a halt which he did at 2:21 of the seventh round in a fight telecast on a delayed basis by ABS-CBN Studio 23.
HBO TV commentator Jim Lampley said trainer Freddie Roach who handles Chavez Jr ?is polishing a diamond.?
CompuBox stats showed that Lee threw nearly 200 more punches but Chavez Jr connected with an overall rate of 48 percent.
In terms of power shots Chavez Jr landed 47 percent both to the body and to the head and they clearly became more telling as the fight wore on. Lampley noted that even though Lee also had some decent stats his punches were less and less powerful as the fight went on.
In a post fight interview the reigning middleweight champion said that he studied Lee early in the fight to check on whether his opponent had any power and he saw that Lee ?didn?t have anything, that?s when I came on. He never hurt me.?
Chavez Jr said he is very happy to carry the name of his legendary father and he plans ?to make history in the world of boxing and every day I?m doing better.?
Chavez Jr claimed that ?from the first round my legs were bothering and I could have knocked him out earlier but there are no excuses. I could have knocked him out earlier if it wasn?t for my legs.?
Asked about a possible title fight with Ring Magazine?s pound for pound No. 3 Sergio ?Maravilla? Martinez, Chavez Jr predicted ?I?m going to knock him out in the seventh round.?
The beaten challenger Andy Lee who is from the same stable said ?it will be a tough fight for Sergio because he (Chavez Jr) looks bigger and is a good champ.?
Martinez himself is smaller and is actually a junior middleweight who has bucked his size to win the WBC diamond belt in the 160 pound weight division.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told the Manila Standard that Chavez will fight Martinez at the Tomas and Mack Center on September 15. Addressing the issue of size, Arum responded by telling us he didn't think Chavez Jr was too big, pointing out that "Martinez was shooting his mouth off for two years that Chavez was not ready to fight, so now we're going to fight him."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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