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Chavez, Jr. and Donaire win on HBO!

By Tom Donelson

(Member of Boxing Writers Assoc.)

 

Two Mexican fighters went toe to toe most of the night in the shadow of the Alamo in San Antonio.  Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. has the curse of the being the son of the great Julio Cesar Chavez plus he faced a hungry fighter in Marco Rubio who viewed this fight as his opportunity.  Rubio had more knock outs coming into this fight but it became obvious that Rubio did not have the power to punish Chavez and Chavez pushed Rubio around the ring.

Over the first two rounds, Rubio was the busy fighter but not the more accurate fighter as he missed many shots against charging Chavez.  By the third round, Chavez used his hook to slow Rubio down and there were times that one could see the father in his son as Chavez ripped left hooks after left hooks to the body.   Rubio threw his own haymakers as they fought inside the boxing trenches.

In the sixth round, Chavez changed tactics as he boxed and move whereas Rubio looked temporally befuddled but it gave Chavez and even Rubio a break from the tough infighting that both were involved in over the previous rounds.  In the seventh round, trench warfare returned as both men simply pounded each other as Rubio threw more punches but Chavez punches had more impact.  In the final minute of the seventh round, Chavez pounded Rubio with a nice combination that included a solid right hand.

During the eighth round, Emanuel Steward observed that Rubio should move and box more since he was not a devastating puncher whereas Larry Merchant quipped that “Rubio is not as much a devastating boxer, either.”    Over the last three rounds, Chavez and Rubio nailed each other with power shots including left hooks to the body.  Chavez threw accurate right hands throughout the bout set up by his left hooks, showing that he can be a two handed puncher.  As for Rubio, he showed grit as he was never hurt by Chavez and there were times that he connected on his own body shots including left hooks but Chavez was the more accurate puncher which is why he won the unanimous decision.

For Chavez, he beat a good fighter in Rubio but he has yet to be tested by an elite fighter and while he would love to fight Sergio Martinez, he admitted in the post-fight interview that he had to fight better than he did against Rubio.  He had trouble with his weight and a DUI interrupted his training, giving one doubts if he has the same dedication as his father.  He admitted the need to stay in shape if he wants to stay in the Middleweight division. Continue reading Chavez, Jr. and Donaire win on HBO!