I think Chavez is a good enough fighter in a bad division. I think he will beat Rubio and I think he has decent power and will end having an ok career. He would never beat someone like a younger Jermaine Taylor who was just too quick, but he can beat the Rubios and Manfredos, which are good for him now. Cotto is tough for him, but he does have the size advantage in that one. A bad fight for him is Martinez. Chavez has matched himself well and is getting good experience. On the other hand, Ronald Hearns whose father is my favorite fighter has made bad choices in fights. Fighting Lara at this point was a bad decision. He should have fought 3 or 4 guys who had good chins but not great fighters and fought rounds and got more experience. At this point Lara has to withstand Ronald's punches in the early rounds and wait for Ronald to get tired and land punches on his chin. I wish Ronald would have picked his fighters better and he could have been an ok fighter.
With Chavez behind in the scorecards and taking a beating, his corner tells him to open up. He comes out of his corner and throws 10 punches, none of them landing, and the judges bail him out and stop the fight. Robbery as usual. Rubio gets the shaft.
Chavez and his underrated or undervalued body punching attack will stop Rubio late. Rubio got stopped with body blows against Pavlik ... I think that Chavez is a better body puncher than Pavlik. I think that Chavez backs up Rubio mid rounds and has his will broken around the 8-9th ... remember when Rubio was fighting Lemieux he was getting has ass whooped its just that Lemieux didn't go to the body.
Pavlik then and Chavez now are in way different classes of power and resilence. Chavez wasn't able to stop Troy Rowland, Vanda, Duddy, Lylle, or Zbik. And we don't know if he was close to punching himself out against Manfredo before Cole stopped it prematurely. Rubio's a good technician, I just don't know if he can accumulate enough damage on Chavez without getting outworked.
Rubio is definitely a live underdog, but I think Chavez is too sharp with his punches at this point and will do the better work timing the better shots and staying away from Rubio's. If he can hurt Rubio in the early-mid rounds, I wouldn't be surprised if he stopped him after laying it on thick.
Better puncher than Pavlic.????? Dont think so. Not even close. Kelly would knock his ass out cold even if he was half cut.
Chavez isn't the same level puncher as Pavlik, whether they're punching head, shoulders, knees or toes. (knees or toes).