Chavez Vera II: What has changed ahead of rematch?

This Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Bryan Vera lock horns in a rematch of one of the most controversial fights of 2013. Last September, the protagonists met at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, with Vera viewed as a stepping stone for Chavez, who was looking to return to winning ways after his first career defeat and a year-long layoff from the sport.

But Vera proved he was not just a stepping stone, or at least not one that should be overlooked, firing out of the blocks, out-throwing and outlanding Chavez over the scheduled ten rounds to what most observers believed was a hard-earned upset victory. When the judge’s scorecards were revealed however, celebrations in the Vera corner were brought to an abrupt and alarming end. The official verdict read scores of 96-94, 97-93 and, most alarmingly, 98-92, all in favour of Chavez.

The scorecards were much to the confusion of the largely pro-Chavez crowd in attendance and the various media outlets covering the fight. In fact, independent fight score collector Bobby Hunter complied a list of 59 press scores for the bout; 53 had Vera victorious, whilst the other six scored the fight a draw. Nobody believed that Chavez had done enough to win.

But as bad as September’s debacle was, the silver lining of the controversial first encounter is that it’s led to this intriguing return bout. However you scored their first meeting it was close, so changes either man has made in the intervening six months could be the difference come Saturday night.

Much has changed in Chavez’s life outside of the ring. He’s become a father for the first time, an experience that noises from his camp suggest has made him a more motivated individual. He’s apparently more dedicated to his boxing and obliged with responsibility perhaps for the first time in his life, hopefully he’ll meet his obligation of making weight for the Vera fight this time around.

The build-up to the first fight with Vera was a media circus that centred around Chavez’s struggles with his weight. Having ballooned above 200lbs during his suspension from the ring – a result of testing positive for marijuana following his loss to Sergio Martinez in September 2012 – it emerged that Chavez was unable to make the originally contracted 163lb catchweight. The fight was postponed three weeks and renegotiated at the super middleweight limit of 168lbs, but then on fight week Chavez informed promoters Top Rank that he would be unable to make that weight either. He was finally able to make 173lbs and forced to pay Vera an undisclosed fine as a result, though Vera had little choice to but to still go through with the fight at such a late stage.

This time Chavez (47-1-1, 32 KO’s) insists he has had no struggles with the weight at all and he will make the agreed 168lbs as he has no desire to pay Vera another hefty fine. If Chavez has made the weight comfortably and shows up in shape, given that he also likely underestimated Vera last time, will he simply have too much for the Texan as was originally expected?

Bryan Vera has had a long hard road to get this far and without the finances and promotional backing of his adversary, everything he’s earned up to this point has been the result of his own blood, sweat and tears. His record (23-7, 14 KO’s) doesn’t do him justice and since hooking up with trainer Ronnie Shields he’s made considerable improvements to his technique. In the last couple of years he’s scored some of his biggest wins, beating Sergio Mora for the second time and stopping Serhiy Dzinziruk.

Vera is always in fantastic shape and given that he didn’t get the verdict he deserved in the first bout, he’s going to be even more motivated and determined this time around. As a fighter who appears to be on an upward curve, improving and finally getting the best out of his attributes that’s a pretty dangerous combination. Chavez might be taking Vera seriously, but he’ll need to. In a battle of guts and glory, where would you put your money?

Juniors no chip off the old block

In the 1980s and early 90s, the name Julio Cesar Chavez became synonymous with Mexican boxing. Not only that, but synonymous also with his nation’s esteemed fighting pride and iron will, with his record of 87-0 before his first professional defeat and the nature of many of his thrilling performances, earning him celebrity status and installing him as a national hero and boxing legend.

Chavez’s prominence would make a huge impact on his eldest son, Julio Jr, who became an ever-present during his father’s training camps and would sit ringside for every bout. Before his fights, Chavez would allow Julio and his younger brother Omar into the ring with him and, exposed to the live audience and television cameras, the brothers became known to boxing fans the world over.

It was inevitable that both Julio Jr and Omar would enter the squared circle themselves, with the elder sibling going on to establish a succesful career of his own. That career was reignited last Saturday, when Julio Cesar Chavez Jr returned to the ring following a year-long absence to score a controversial ten round decision over game and likeable middleweight contender Bryan Vera.

When the scores were announced at the StubHub Center in Carson, California the reaction of the overwhelming majority of people who had been watching the fight was complete shock. 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 they read, all in favour of the fighter with the famous father. Almost everybody in attendance, as well those watching at home and all of the assembled fight media, instead had Vera winning by a close margin.

There’s no doubt the ten round-encounter was a close affair, with a plausible case to score the fight a draw, but unquestionably Vera had the edge, with it being a tough ask to see Chavez winning six of the ten rounds. To say that he won seven, or even eight of the rounds, as judges Marty Denkin and Gwen Adair did respectively, was outrageous. In a month of bad judging controversies, we had another and Vera had every right to feel hard done by.

As if the farcical build-up to the fight hadn’t been discourteous enough to the 31-year-old Texan, with Chavez’s ongoing circus of weight-making issues reaching a new level of unprofessionalism. Originally scheduled to be fought at a contracted catchweight of 163lbs on September 7th, Chavez was cut in training in early August and the bout was postponed.

When it was rescheduled for September 28th the fight was set for 168lbs, because Chavez had not continued to train while his cut had healed. There was no chance that he was making 163lb limit at that stage and then when fight week came around, another bombshell was dropped; he wouldn’t be able to make 168, either.

Junior’s dedication to the sport and his ability to make weight as a consequence, have long been under scrutiny.

Whilst it’s apparent that there are certain qualities that Junior did inherit from his father, his granite chin for example and his physical strength, durability and punching power, it’s also becoming clear that this man is no chip off the old block. Lacking are the work ethic, desire and heart of the Mexican warrior whose colossal fanbase he inherited, yet now continues to exasperate.

Following the revelation that Chavez was not on track to make the renegotiated super middleweight limit, his promoter Bob Arum announced during the Wednesday press conference that the fans, media and Vera would have to wait until Friday for the weight of the fight to be revealed. Vera was reportedly paid handsomely for the inconvenience by taking a portion of Chavez’s purse, but it was a drop in the $2.5 million ocean that Junior received and certainly had no impact on his conscience. He didn’t seem to care.

“The weight should not be a problem or an issue for anybody,” he said. “It’s not a championship fight. We’re not fighting for a title, so why do I have to come in at 168 pounds?”

Why should he have to? What a sense of entitlement the 27-year-old has. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he’s never had to fight to put food on the table the way his father did and never had to make the sacrifices that most fighters do having not come from such a privileged background as his.

Fighters from a much less privileged background who don’t complain like he does. Throughout the fight with Vera, Chavez repeatedly berated referee Lou Moret about phantom low blows and headbutts and continued to hound the 69-year-old official after the final bell.

‘Never complain, never explain’ is a mantra used by many high-acheivers in all walks of life. A former WBC middleweight titleholder, nobody can say that Chavez is not an acheiver, but he isn’t likely to reach his full potential. He has talent, but squanders it, as evidenced by his inability to make a contracted weight for this bout and struggles to make countless others in the past and also by the fact that ahead of the most important fight of his life last September – his unanimous decision loss to Sergio Martinez – he was smoking marijuana during his training camp for the contest.

He failed a post-fight drug test of course and was hit with a $900,000 fine and suspended nine months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, though the monetary penalty was later reduced to $100,000. In the ring, Martinez outclassed Chavez for the majority of the twelve rounds but the youngster floored the champion in that final session to set up a dramatic finish and who knows, if he’d been a more dedicated athlete, would he have been able to finish Maravilla and claim a career-defining victory?

Perhaps it isn’t all Junior’s fault. Maybe Chavez senior should have been harder on his eldest son. It doesn’t help either that Arum and Top Rank, with the backing of their stronger than ever working relationship with their affiliate television giant HBO, create licence for Chavez to do pretty much whatever he pleases. He’s their cash cow and one they don’t want to upset.

Arum even went as far as justifying Junior’s marijuana consumption, insisting his fighter had done nothing wrong by smoking pot in the build-up to the fight. After the fall-out from last Saturday’s ‘victory’, Arum was naturally quick to jump to his fighter’s defence once again.

“(They) got it right. I thought so,” the 81-year-old promotional veteran quipped, “to say that Vera won that fight, that was absurd.”

Not to directly point a finger at corruption but had Vera officially won the fight, that could have scuppered plans for a clash between Chavez and super middleweight king Andre Ward next year, which is currently the most lucrative fight that Top Rank and HBO can make. Using his father’s name as a jumpstart, Arum is trying to mould Junior into a star. You can’t fabricate greatness however, no matter what the fighter’s last name is and how much emphasis you try to put onto his inflated 47-1-1 record.

Greatness is the result of immense talent meeting equally strong measures of hard work, dedication and sacrifice. How much Chavez Jr has of one of those ingredients, is debatable.

The other ingredients however, he fundamentally appears to be lacking. As such, he’ll never enjoy the legendary status of his old man.