As most fight fans already know, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (47-1-1 32Ko’s) will be making his return to the ring on March 1st to take on the rugged Brian Vera (23-7 14Ko’s) once again in a re-match. The fight is set to take place in the super middleweight division. The location for the bout will be the Alamodome in San AntonioTexas and will be televised live on HBO.
The two fighters fought each other last September in what was largely looked at as a tune up fight for the young Chavez Jr. However, it turned out to be a disastrous outing for the young Mexican star and most observers felt that Vera deserved to get the decision win. Chavez Jr. at his best is normally a come forward pressure fighter who likes to throw a lot of punches and uses his size and strength advantages over his opponents.
However, in his fight with Vera, Chavez Jr. was going backwards for most of the fight and seemed to be content by only throwing one punch at a time. His work rate was drastically lower then it usually is which is probably a testament to his lack of preparation and training before the fight with Vera. However, contrary to what many fans might think, Chavez Jr. has many great physical attributes to be a very good fighter but his attitude and approach to the sport of boxing seem to be holding him back from reaching his full potential. Chavez possesses a great chin, physical strength and above average punching power. He also usually comes into the ring with a significant size/weight advantage over his opponents.
Brian Vera on the other hand is a tuff rugged fighter that always steps into the ring to win. Despite having seven losses he holds some quality wins against the likes of Andy Lee, Sebastien Demers and Sergio Mora. Vera isn’t the most athletically gifted fighter but he is mentally very strong and packs a decent punch and usually comes in good shape. However, if Chavez Jr. takes his training seriously Vera isn’t the kind of fighter that should give the undisciplined Mexican star big trouble. But we simply can’t predict what we will get from Chavez Jr. these days as he has seemed to stop excelling in the sport of boxing since his fight with Sergio Martinez. We simply don’t know which Chavez we are going to get come fight night and that’s what makes this fight interesting for me.