Being the son of a legend can only take you so far in this boxing business. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was once a franchise in the sport. Last year, he had the highest rated boxing event on the HBO schedule when he took on Bryan Vera. In 2012, he headlined a pay-per-view with Sergio Martinez as the A-side. Chavez ultimately lost the bout, but had one of the most memorable 12th rounds in recent memory.
But now amidst leaving the promoter who made him a star, Top Rank Inc., turning down fights against Gennady Golovkin, missing weight multiple times, and getting starched by Andrzej Fonfora, it seems the fan base has had enough.
Though the Haskins Center had an announced crowd of over 8,000, many in the industry say the fight was papered, and the numbers for Chavez Jr. on television weren’t much better.
According to Nielsen Media Research, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Marcos Reyes bout averaged 663,000 viewers (with a peak of 707,000) for the live Showtime airing. In 2014, his rematch with Bryan Vera averaged 1.39 million viewers on HBO and was the most watched fight of the year, that’s a drop of 52.3%.
Saturday’s fight wasn’t even close to it, not even by half. The jig might be up for Chavez Jr., who has had three different trainers in as many fights. He clearly can’t compete with guys above 175, and it seems like he can’t make 168 lbs. That masterful chin people spoke highly off may have been masked by having a near 20 lb. weight advantage over many of his opponents at 160. Rumor has it even Al Haymon might be fed up with Chavez Jr, so who knows if a cash out is due, maybe to an Adonis Stevenson.
Also on Saturday, the McJoe Arroyo-Arthur Villanueva junior bantamweight title fight co-feature averaged 464,000 viewers (peaking at 533,000) and the junior welterweight title eliminator between Amir Imam and Fernando Angulo, which opened the telecast, averaged 433,000 viewers and peaked at 460,000.
