Over on ShowTime tonight, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. headlined in a fight against Andrzej Fonfara live from the StubHub Center in Carson, California. It was Chavez’s first fight back from a year long layoff.
Fonfara looked really god from the opening bell, while Chavez Jr. spent more time complaining than fighting. Fonfara stayed planted and threw meaningful shots, putting together impressive combos. Chavez wasn’t very methodical with his offense, but instead he was hoping that he could overwhelm Fonfara at some point. The problem was Chavez had always been the bigger guy and he could create openings with blunt trauma, effecting his opponent’s ability to work down the stretch. However, Fonfara wasn’t backing down and Chavez’s shots weren’t having as much impact, and they certainly weren’t preventing Fonfara from fighting a smart fight.
In the 5th, Chavez was leading with his head in order to get inside and tee off, but Fonfara did a great job of side stepping, although Chavez was finding his moments with shots to the body. Chavez continued to dig and found success in spurts, coming up with some pretty big shots.
One of those big shots backed Fonfara off for a moment in the 6th, it was probably Chavez’s best round. Still Fonfara stayed patient in the fight and waited for his moments to present themselves. The output from Fonfara was surprisingly better than Chavez’s, but the gap was definitely closing at the end of 6.
Fonfara was much more consistent in the fight, while Chavez was content to work when it was convenient.
In the 7th, Fonfara lost a point from a deduction for pushing off with his elbow. Regardless of the point, Fonfara dominated the round and stayed in control of the fight.
Chavez wasn’t out of the fight, but he was losing the kind of ground necessary to win a decision. Fonfara had yet to really press the fight, he was more than happy to dictate both the pace and the output over Chavez. Chavez remained 1-dimenitonal and never made adjustments.
Then, for the first time in his career, Chavez Jr. was sent to the canvas in the 9th round off of a Fonfara left hook. To his credit, Chavez tried to fight when he was clearly hurt.
What wasn’t so valiant, and certainly a discredit to Chavez’s Mexican fan base, was that Chavez quit on his stool in between the rounds following the knockdown. Chavez was clearly hurt, but I don’t know if he was so hurt that he couldn’t continue or if he just didn’t want to.
However, upon a closer look at the ShowTime video/audio we found out that he actually quit on his stool and made the decision to quit for himself. Through a translator, Chavez was clearly heard saying, “Stop it. Stop the fight. I’m done. Stop the fight. I want it stopped. It’s my leg, my leg is bothering me. Stop it.”
Chavez did an absolute disservice to his career tonight. What’s worse is he clearly lied to Jim Grey in the post-fight interview claiming that he didn’t quit.
