Breakdown: Chavez-Rubio

Published

13 years ago

February 3, 2012

Chavez Jr Rubio weighin 120203 001a Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and #1 ranked Marco Antonio Rubio weigh in (Chavez 159.5 lbs., Rubio 159 lbs.) at the Alamodome in San Antonio,Texas, Friday for their upcoming world title fight, Saturday, Feb. 4. (Chris Farina)

I do not envy Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.

For a kid who was supposed to have it easy, things have gotten a bit complicated. When he started his professional career back in 2003, the blueprint appeared to be simply to cash in on his legendary namesake’s reputation and make a few bucks before the public realized they were being scammed. Even Junior seemed to be fine with the arrangement. Judging by the marked lack of craft and notoriously lazy work ethic that defined his early career, it didn’t look like Chavez the Younger had any intent of being a serious fighter.

Then things took an unexpected turn. That Junior defeated the scores of no-hopers put in front of him was no surprise, but the fact that many fans believed those wins were indicative of something meaningful was somewhat unforeseen. He was gaining throngs of fans who loved the idea of a running legacy of greatness in the Chavez clan. At the same time, he was also gaining a band of skeptics who resented the idea of a kid who was getting, what they perceived to be, unfair and unearned opportunities that more deserving fighters did not.

As I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t want to trade places with Chavez. On one hand, he’s got an overwhelming fan base with expectations that he probably can’t live up to, at least not at this point of his career. On the other, he’s drawn a band of skeptics who have been waiting for the fraudulent fairy tale to come to an end, for the kid to be exposed as a con artist, and for boxing logic (or karma) to play itself out.

To his credit, Chavez has made a much more concerted effort to be a serious prizefighter. He’s brought in Freddy Roach as a hired gun. His work ethic and training routines are much improved. It seems to Chavez that if boxing is something worth doing, it’s worth doing right.

Going into Saturday night’s fight with former title-challenger Marco Antonio Rubio, the big question remains as to how seriously we should take Junior. The rugged, but limited Rubio figures to be a decent test for the 25-year old Chavez, who, for the time being, is respectfully declining to engage with the upper echelon of the middleweight division.

So how will the first major boxing subplot of 2012 play out? Will the Chavez Jr. express train roll on to the next stop? Or will Rubio cause it to derail, as so many have predicted it would? Several important factors will all come together to determine the outcome of Saturday night’s main event.

The Manfredo Effect
Chavez’ last performance was probably his most impressive to date: a fifth round stoppage of former Contender participant and world title challenger Peter Manfredo. What was so impressive was that Chavez demonstrated an impressive arsenal that showed he has more chops than he’s been given credit for. He jabbed with conviction, maintained solid balance, set up openings for combinations, and minimized risk more than he had in the past. Afterward, more than a few doubters had to grudgingly admit that the kid looked pretty sharp, and his supporters would have us believe that Junior was starting to put the pieces together under the tutelage of Roach.

It was an impressive performance, yes, but let’s not get carried away. Remember that Chavez was in with maybe the most compliant opponent possible in that type of situation. This is the same Peter Manfredo who froze against Joe Calzaghe and Sakio Bika. He was chosen because he was a safe bet to revert to those habits against Chavez, which is pretty much what he did. This is no fault to Chavez, who did his job and did it exceptionally well. Still, with all due respect to the good-guy Manfredo, he was there for a reason, and he fulfilled it.

So what’s the real verdict on Chavez’ progress, taking into consideration the Manfredo Effect? Realistically, he is improving, but probably not as much as some might want you to believe.

Rubio: The (Sometimes) Willing Accomplice
When someone looks at the glossy record of Marco Antonio Rubio, boasting 53 wins and 46 knockouts, he looks like an experienced, world-class threat. But when you look at that record long enough, like a Magic Eye picture, a whole different image appears.

Of his fifty three wins, Rubio’s career-defining win came against the untested prospect David Lemieux. That is, unless you consider wins over Grady Brewer or the ancient likes of Frankie Randall and Jorge Vaca to be especially scintillating. The fact of the matter is that Rubio owns not a single win over an elite-level opponent, which makes his intimidating KO ratio seem a bit less formidable upon closer examination.

Rubio, though, is a toughguy, a man’s man. He’ll do his best with what he’s got, which consists mainly of fairly slow, awkward, thudding punches. He can do damage when allowed to, but has problems when his opponents don’t have losing on their mind.

The idea that Rubio is a real, A-level fighter is challenged by the role he’s been asked to play more than once in his career: the durable, but relatively safe opponent.

In February 2009, Rubio was given an opportunity to face Kelly Pavlik for the middleweight title. Keep in mind, this was a post-Hopkins version of Kelly Pavlik who was in desperate need of a confidence builder in front of the Youngstown faithful. Rubio was, conveniently enough, a mandatory challenger for Pavlik, but common sense would make us believe that the folks at Top Rank were not going to put Pavlik in too tough after the demoralizing loss to Hopkins. They wanted a guy who would give the champ a good workout, rebuild his confidence, but not be too serious of a threat. In Rubio, they got exactly what they wanted, as Pavlik methodically broke him down for a ninth round stoppage win.

For David Lemieux, the plan was similar. Rubio was brought to Montreal for the same reason he went to Youngstown: to help make the hometown boy look good. For the first five rounds, things went according to the script for Team Lemieux. Their man was putting a beating on Rubio, who produced little other than meager offensive bursts. As Lemieux teed off on Rubio, the ending seemed inevitable.

That is, until Lemieux folded like a sunchair. All credit to Rubio’s heart for withstanding a ton of punishment, but his win was dramatically aided by Lemieux’s inexperience in deep waters. Rubio got the win, but the unlikelihood of the circumstances makes it difficult to interpret its significance in any really meaningful way for Rubio.

On Saturday night, Rubio will be called into San Antonio for the same purpose as he was for Pavlik and Lemieux. San Antonio might not be Chavez’ hometown, but you won’t know that based on the support he’ll get from the droves of fans that will pack Alamodome. Will he be a willing accomplice for Chavez, or does he have another storyline in mind?

We’ll find out at the opening bell.

The Likely Plotline
It’s hard to see this fight playing out any other way than the predicable route.

Chavez is quicker than Rubio, not to mention more skilled and versatile. It doesn’t take Copernicus to understand that Rubio’s only means of winning is by landing something big and land it often. Freddie Roach will have Chavez executing a gameplan that will minimize, if not eliminate, Rubio’s chances to smash the homerun ball.

Plan to see Chavez’ improved, intentional jab on display along with simple, effective footwork to keep the plodding Rubio off balance. Sure, there will be exchanges, because this is a Chavez fight after all. But Junior will make sure that he doesn’t gamble too recklessly against Rubio, and eventually the shots will add up. Rubio’s main means of defense is simply to cover up. He’s not a proponent of head movement, but he does have a fondness for moving straight back to avoid punches, all of which is good news for Chavez.

It will be fun, and Rubio will try to hang in there, but Junior’s punches could add up to a late round stoppage. If not, expect a wide unanimous decision.

What It Will All Mean
Honestly, not much. It will go down as a title defense for Chavez. His fans will relish the victory, his detractors will still claim he’s overprotected, and the dual hyperbole will likely continue.

With such a broad spectrum of opinions about Junior’s place in boxing’s pecking order, where does the reality of the situation lie?

As is often the case, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Chavez is probably not a legend in the making, and he’s definitely not a bum. He’s a young man who’s learning on the job what it means to be a fighter, and he looks to be on his way to being a pretty good one.

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Friday Boxing Recaps: Observations on Conlan, Eubank, Bahdi, and David Jimenez

Published

1 day ago

March 8, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Friday-Boxing-Recaps-Observations-on-Conlan-Eubank-Bahdi-and-David-Jimenez

March 7 was an unusually heavy Friday for professional boxing. The show that warranted the most ink was the all-female card in London, a tour-de-force for the super-talented Lauren Price, but there were important fights on other continents.

Brighton

Michael Conlan, who sat out all of 2024 on the heels of being stopped in three of his previous five, returned to the ring in the British seaside resort city of Brighton in a shake-off-the-rust, 8-rounder against Asad Asif Khan, a 31-year-old Indian from Calcutta making his first appearance in a British ring.

Conlan, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist who famously signed with Top Rank coming out of the amateur ranks, is now 33 years old. Against Khan, he was far from impressive, but did enough to win by a 78-74 score and lock in a match with Spain’s Cristobal Lorente, the European featherweight champion.

Conlan, who improved to 19-3 (9), absorbed a lot of punishment in those three matches that he lost. With his deep amateur background, Michael has a lot of mileage on him and he would have been smart to call it quits after his embarrassingly one-sided defeat to Luis Alberto Lopez. His frayed reflexes speak to something more than ring rust. Heading in, Khan brought a 19-5-1 record but had scored only five wins inside the distance.

Conlan vs Khan was the co-feature. In the main event, Brighton welterweight Harlem Eubank, the cousin of Chris Eubank Jr, improved to 21-0 (9 KOs) with a dominant performance over Conlan’s Belfast homie Tyrone McKenna. Eubank was credited with three knockdowns, all the result of body punches, before referee John Latham had seen enough and pulled the plug at the 2:09 mark of round 10. It was the fourth loss in his last six outings for the 35-year-old McKenna (24-6-1).

Harlem Eubank wants to fight Conor Benn next and says he is willing to wait until after his cousin “wipes Benn out.” Chris Eubank Jr vs Benn is slated for April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The North London facility, which has a retractable roof, is the third-largest soccer stadium in England.

Toronto

Local fan favorite Lucas Bahdi and his stablemate Sara Bailey were the headliners on last night’s card at the Great Canadian Casino Resort in Toronto. The event marked the first incursion of Jake Paul’s MVP Promotions into Canada.

Bahdi, who is from Niagara Falls but trains in Toronto, burst out of obscurity in July of last year in Tampa, Florida, with a spectacular one-punch knockout of heavily-hyped Ashton “H2O” Sylva. His next fight, on the undercard of Jake Paul’s match with Mike Tyson, was less “noisy” and the same could be said of his homecoming fight with Ryan James Racaza, an undefeated (15-0) but obscure southpaw from the Philippines who was making his North American debut.

Bahdi vs Racaza was a technical fight that didn’t warm up until Bahdi produced a knockdown in round seven with a sweeping left hook, a glancing blow that appeared to land behind Racaza’s ear. The Filipino was up in a jiff, looking at the referee as if to say, “this dude just hit me with a rabbit punch.”

The judges had it 99-90, 97-92, and 96-93 for the victorious Bahdi (19-0) who was the subject of a recent profile on these pages.

Sara Bailey, a decorated amateur who competed around the world under her maiden name Sara Haghighat Joo and now holds the WBA light flyweight title, successfully defended that trinket with a lopsided decision over Cristina Navarro (6-3), a 35-year-old Spaniard who “earned” this assignment by winning a 6-round decision over an opponent with a 1-4-3 record. The judges scored the monotonous fight 99-91 across the board for Bailey who improved to 6-0 and then returned to the ring to assist her husband in Lucas Bahdi’s corner.

Also

Twenty-two-year-old super bantamweight Angel Barrientes, a Las Vegas-based Hawaii native, delivered the best performance of the night with a one-sided beatdown of Alexander Castellano whose corner mercifully stopped the contest after the seventh round as the ring doctor stood in a neutral corner chatting with the referee.

The gritty Castellano, who hails from Tonawanda, New York, brought an 11-1-2 record and hadn’t previously been stopped. A glutton for punishment, he appeared to suffer a broken orbital bone. Barrientes improved to 13-1 (8 KOs).

The show was marred by an excessive amount of fluffy gobbledygook by the TV talking heads which slowed down the action and made the promotion almost unwatchable.

Cartago, Costa Rica

Fighting in his hometown, super flyweight David Jimenez scored a lopsided 12-round decision over Nicaragua’s Keyvin Lara. The judges had it 120-108, 119-109, and 116-112.

Jimenez, now 17-1, came to the fore in July of 2022 when he upset Ricardo Sandoval in Los Angeles, winning a well-earned majority decision over a 20/1 favorite riding a 16-fight winning streak. That boosted him into a title fight with the formidable Artem Dalakian who saddled him with his lone defeat.

Jimenez’s victory over Lara was his fifth since that setback. It sets up the Costa Rican for another title fight, this time against Argentina’s Fernando Martinez who acquired the WBA 115-pound title in July with an upset of Kazuto Ioka in Japan. Lara, who unsuccessfully challenged Ioka for a belt in 2016, falls to 32-7-1.

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Price Conquers Jonas on an All-Female Card at Royal Albert Hall

Published

2 days ago

March 7, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Price-Conquers-Jonas-on-an-All-Female-Card-at-Royal-Albert-Hall

Ben Shalom’s BOXXER Promotions was at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall tonight with an all-female card topped by a welterweight unification fight between WBC/IBF belt-holder Natasha Jonas and WBA champion Lauren Price.

Liverpool’s Jonas, who turns 41 in June, has had a sterling career, but Father Time has caught up with her. The 30-year-old Price, an Olympic gold medalist, had faster hands, faster feet, and hit harder. The classy Jonas (16-3-1) acknowledged as much in her post-fight interview: “She beat me to the punch every time.”

The scores were 100-90, 98-92, and 98-93.

In advancing her record to 9-0 (2), Price built a strong case that she is the best fighter to come down the pike from Wales since Joe Calzaghe. As for her next bout, she hopes to fight the winner of the March 29 rematch in Las Vegas between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan. That match, with all of the meaningful welterweight hardware at stake, would be a hot ticket item if potted in Cardiff.

Semi-wind-up

Caroline Dubois staved off a late rally to successfully defend her WBC lightweight title with a majority decision over South Korea’s spunky Bo Mi Re Shin. The judges had it 98-92, 98-93, and 95-95. Although the 95-95 tally by the Korean judge was quite a stretch, Shin performed far better than the odds – Dubois was a consensus 35/1 favorite — portended.

Dubois, a 24-year-old Londoner trained by Shane McGuigan, is the sister of IBF heavyweight title-holder Daniel Dubois. Reportedly 36-3 as an amateur, she advanced her pro record to 11-0-1 (5). Heading in, Shin (18-3-3) had won nine of her previous 10 with the lone setback coming via split decision in a robust fight with Belgium’s Delfine Persoon in Belgium.

Other Bouts of Note

Kariss Artingstall returned to the ring after a 14-month absence and scored a unanimous decision over former amateur rival Raven Chapman. The scores were 98-91, 97-92, 96-93.

The prize for Artingstall, who happens to be Lauren Price’s partner, was the inaugural British female featherweight title and a potential rematch with Skye Nicolson who would relish the chance to avenge her last defeat, a loss by split decision to Attingstall in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics. Nicolson, who was part of tonight’s broadcast team, defends her title later this month in Sydney against Florida’s Tiara Brown.

It was the first 10-rounder for Artingstall (7-0). Chapman (9-2) had an uphill battle after Artingstall decked her in the second round with a straight left hand.

In a mild upset, Jasmina Zopotoczna, a UK-based Pole, won a split decision over Chloe Watson, adding Watson’s European flyweight title to her own regional trinket. One of the judges favored Watson 97-93, but each of his colleagues had it 96-95 for the Pole. Although there was no great furor, the verdict was unpopular.

Zapotoczna, who fought off her back foot, improved to 9-1. It was the first pro loss for Watson who is trained by Ricky Hatton.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 316: Art of the Deal in Boxing and More

Published

3 days ago

March 6, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-316-Art-of-the-Deal-in-Boxing-and-More

So, they want to save boxing?

A group of guys with recent ties to the sport of boxing and bags of money suddenly believe they can save a sport that is older than any other sport since the dawn of mankind.

Boxing is the oldest sport.

When cavemen roamed the planet, you can believe one tribe bet another tribe their guy could whip the other guy. Thus began the sport of boxing. There was no baseball, soccer or horse racing.

Even the invention of the wheel was still a few generations away when men were duking it out with other men for sport.

Throughout history mentions of one man fighting another man without arms are written in the Tales of Ulysses and other literary references.

Boxing will never die. Period.

Here is the reason why.

Boxing requires only two men in their underwear with no weapons and no requirement of classes in jujitsu, kickboxing, wrestling or advance training facilities. You can prepare in your backyard with one heavy bag and a pair of boxing gloves. It’s simple.

MMA, on the other hand, requires money.

Boxing is for the poor. Any kid can walk into a gym and begin training. When they become adults, then they start paying to use the gym.

Don’t let people fool you and tell you “boxing is dying.”

People have been saying those same words since John L. Sullivan in the late 1800s. You can look it up.

The phrase “boxing is dying,” is said by people who want you to pay them money to save it. Kind of sounds like the guy currently sitting in the White House who is going to save America by firing Americans from their jobs and allowing Russia to take over Ukraine.

Don’t believe these people.

Boxing does not need saving.

Why would Dana White, who has stated for decades that MMA is bigger than boxing, though no MMA fighter can equal the purses of a Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Tyson Fury, why is he involved in boxing?

There is big money to be made in boxing, especially with internet gambling sites being allowed all over the world. And boxing is popular worldwide. MMA is not.

More people know who Canelo is than UFC’s Alex Pereira.

I respect the UFC fighters. They put in hard work and battle injuries throughout their careers. But MMA is simply not as big as boxing. The purses of MMA fighters at the top level don’t come close to boxing’s top money earners.

Why did Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and others quickly switch to boxing when called?

The money in boxing is much bigger.

Follow the money.

NYC

A rumble is planned for Times Square in New York City.

Vatos from Southern California are fighting dudes from Nevada and Brooklyn. Sounds like a script from the Gangs of New York.

Where is Leonardo DiCaprio when you need him?

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) will meet Rollie Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) in a welterweight match set for May 2, on Times Square in mid-Manhattan. This is one of three marquee bouts planned to be streamed on DAZN.

Others matched will be Arnold Barboza (32-0, 11 KOs) versus super lightweight titlist Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs), and Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) against Jose Carlos Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) in a welterweight contest.

This is the proposed match by The Ring magazine backed by Turki Alalshikh who, along with Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing, is sponsoring this fight card.

It was also announced that Alalshikh, TKO Group Holdings, and Sela are forming a promotion company.

TKO owns UFC and WWE.

SoCal Fights

Southern California will be busy with boxing cards this weekend.

This Thursday, March 6, is Golden Boy Promotions with a boxing card featuring Manny Flores (19-1, 15 KOs) versus Jorge Leyva (18-3, 13 KOs) in a super bantamweight match at Fantasy Springs Casino. DAZN will stream the boxing card from Indio, California.

On Saturday, March 8, the Fox Theater in Pomona, California hosts a boxing card featuring super middleweights Ruben Cazales (10-0) vs Adam Diu Abdulhamid (18-16). Also, super featherweights Michael Bracamontes (10-2-1) meets Eugene Lagos (16-9-3) at the historic venue promoted by House of Pain Boxing.

On Saturday March 8, Elite Boxing hosts a boxing card at Salesian High in East Los Angeles featuring East L.A. native Merari Vivar (8-0) against Sarah Click (2-8-1) and several other fights.

On Saturday, March 8, an event hosted by House of Champions features top contenders Joet Gonzalez (26-4) vs Arnold Khegai (22-1-1) in a featherweight main event at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, Calif.

A Big All-Female Card in London

On Friday, March 7, the historic Royal Albert Hall in the Kensington borough of London will host an all-female card with two world title fights including a unification fight in the welterweight division.

Natasha Jonas (16-2-1) and Lauren Price (8-0) meet 10 rounds for the IBF, WBC, and WBA belts.

Jonas, 40, the current WBC and IBF titlist, recently defeated Ivana Habazin and before that edged past Mikaela Mayer in a win that could have gone the other way very easily. She will be facing Price, an Olympic gold medalist and current WBA and IBO titlist.

Price, 30, hails from Wales and has an aggressive pressure style that saw her win a battle between punchers with a third-round knockout of Colombia’s Bexcy Mateus this past December in Liverpool. Before that she defeated the always tough Jessica McCaskill.

In the co-main event, lightweights Caroline Dubois (10-0-1) and Bo Mi Re Shin (18-2-3) meet for the WBC world title.

Me Re Shin, 30, fights out of South Korea and has knockout power. She was one of only two fighters to stop Venezuela’s Ana Maria Lozano who has 38 pro fights. That says something. She lost a split decision to Delfine Persoon in Belgium. That really says something.

Dubois had two competitive fights, first, against Jessica Camara that ended in a technical draw due to a clash of heads. Before that she defeated Maira Moneo. Dubois has very good talent and is still young at 24. Is she ready for Mi Re Shin?

Times Square photo credit: JP Yim

Fights to watch:

Thurs., March 6: DAZN, Manny Flores (19-1) vs. Jorge Leyva (18-3)

Fri., March 7: free on DAZN, Lucas Bahdi (18-0) vs. Ryan James Racaza (15-0)

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