Disgusted By The Decision, Vera Calls For Chavez Rematch On His Terms

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The weeks preceding the fight between Julio Cesar Chavez and Brian Vera were filling with drama and controversy regarding Chavez’ weight issues. Now in the wake of the fight, once again scrutiny falls upon boxing. In a ten round contest where almost all media and fans scored the fight in favor of Vera, Chavez walked away from the fight with a unanimous decision win. Moments after the fight social media blew up in disguised over the atrocious scoring by the judges and it wasn’t just because Chavez was declared the winner, it was because the wide margin some of the judges had the scores. Days after the fight Vera and his team hosted a conference call to discuss the fight and future plans. Ronnie Shields, Vera’s Trainer, is understandable upset and feels an immediate rematch should be ordered. “This fight deserves a rematch because Bryan did win the fight. And I just think everybody, especially all the press, I think you guys need to put it out there that there should be a rematch,” stated Shields.

After the tenth and final round, most of Vera’s team was celebrating, while Chavez’ camp seemed to be docile in their celebrations. Vera explains why. “I thought I won,” he continued, “I thought for sure we had it man.” Shields went on to explain why he was happy and that he feels Vera followed his plan for the fight. “I was happy because Bryan followed the game plan to a tee. I couldn’t ask him to do no more than what he did that night. And right after the fight though, I had my suspicions. I really did. But, I told Bryan, ‘No matter what the decision is, he won the fight.’ I say, “No matter what the decision is you won the fight.”

Now with the whirlwind of controversy, many fans and media are screaming for a rematch. Should a rematch happen, Vera and his team will be strict on the weight issue to ensure what happened leading up to the first fight doesn’t happen in the second fight, Vera stated, “He has to be at 168. I think Ronnie agrees with that as well, I believe. I think that we have to make him weigh 168. I have no business fighting at 170 or over 170. I come in at 60 to fight to 68. So, I don’t see why I am fighting at 171.”

The overwhelming consensus is that Vera won the fight. Now that Vera has the support of fans and media, he and his team feel that the financial side of the fight should start to even out in the next fight should it happen, Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions stated, “Most definitely. He’s (Chavez) going to have to make less and Bryan’s going to have to make more,” Pelullo continued, “We’re dealing with that as things go along, but most definitely.”

After fights, some trainers and fighters go back to review tape to ensure that their reaction to certain scores are correct. In this instance both Vera and Shields have not reviewed the tape as they feel it’s clear who the victor was, Shields stated, “I haven’t watched the fight back. I mean, I don’t need to watch it back really.” He continued, “Look, I saw it live and I judge every round–every round for my fighters I judge it and I judge it fairly, and if Bryan was behind I would have told him that he was behind during the fight, but I didn’t tell him he was behind because he wasn’t. He was winning the fight and that’s why I just kept telling him–every now and then Bryan would put his hands down and get hit with a shot. And I just told him, “Don’t be macho. You don’t have to be macho. Just stick to the game plan.” And he went back and he did that”.

Moments after the decision was announced Vera was sick to his stomach and feels that the fans in the area although mostly Chavez supporters, still thought that Vera won the fight, “You heard the crowd. The crowd booed. And I just knew that I won the fight, man. We all felt the same way. I really had no thoughts. I was kind of disgusted, man. So, I just prayed, hopefully, we can do this again.”