Former middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. may have defeated Marcos Reyes on Saturday evening, but he certainly didn’t gain many fans.
Chavez scored a unanimous decision victory in front of 9,245 fans at the Don Haskins Center.
A fight that was originally scheduled at the super-middleweight limit of 168 lbs., it became clear that Chavez was not going to be able to make the weight. As a result, the Chavez camp pushed for a 170 lb. catch-weight, which was approved after Chavez agreed to pay Reyes a penalty fee.
To add even further embarrassment to the situation, Chavez failed to make the catch-weight as well, weighing-in on Friday at 170 lbs., and then refusing to reveal his post-rehydration weight to Showtime.
Going into Saturday’s fight, Chavez could have easily been a Cruiserweight.
Heck, it doesn’t even stop there. His performance on Saturday was somnolent and anaemic. Despite out-weighing his adversary by 25-30 lbs. easily, Reyes out-worked and out-punched Chavez.
While some say Chavez deserved the decision, a majority of those people also agree that Chavez looked like crap.
In Round 9, Reyes nailed Chavez with an accidental head-butt, and referee Jose Guadalupe Garcia deducted a point the moment Chavez threw a fit. This is professional boxing?
Like in the Fonfara fight, the post-fight interview opened up with excuses, blaming a hand injury.
“The guy is a good fighter,” Chavez Jr. said. “I hurt my hand. Is it broken? Maybe. I’ll see the doctor. I hurt him to the body, but I didn’t finish him.
“I felt good in there. I felt strong. Without the injury to my hand, I would have knocked him out.”
I’m a cordial guy most of the time, but this guy receives preferential treatment for being the son of a legend. If you can’t see this by now, I don’t know what to tell you.
Prior to the fight, the Mexican stated that with a victory, he would fight in two more bouts.
He could retire now to stop the bleeding.
