Would moving up to SMW help or hurt Chavez Jr?

Where do you guys stand on this?

It's kind of an interesting issue for him. On one hand it probably helps him to move up so he doesn't have to keep shedding so much weight. On the other hand, really, his only big advantage at MW was just that he was so much bigger than other MWs and those physical advantages get shored up considerably at SMW (unless he's fighting AA). I've seen in past threads that some have believed that he's going to be a beast at SMW whereas others thought he would suffer when moving up.

What's your take on it?

 

He`ll probably end up in that weight one day anyway. He will be more comfortable and if he can do it, be able to take in some good names in his resume.

 

Yeh, thats why I put the poll up because its inevitable. No way can he stay at 160 too much longer. I just want to see what train of thought people are on with his inevitable move.

 

He'll be much better once he can focus on training and is not killing himself to make weight before every match

 

Also, considering that some of the best competition that Chavez Jr. has faced at MW was Andy Lee, Sebastian Zbik, Peter Manfredo Jr., Marco Antonio Rubio, and of course Sergio Martinez... and considering SMW has more proven depth right now than MW, how does Chavez Jr. fare against the following opponents:

Andre Ward
Carl Froch
Mikkel Kessler
Lucian Bute
Robert Stieglitz
Kelly Pavlik
Arthur Abraham
Sakio Bika

 

Beats everyone except the first three guys

 

Help, he wont have to ignore the munchies anymore.

 

i think it wouldn't be a good idea to move up to smw. He likes to bullies his opponents. He would have a harder time doing that at smw with guys like Froch,Kessler and Ward. But he will most likely move up weight because when he gets older it will be too hard to keep the weight off.

 

nail on the head there 1st 3 beat him. i think him and bute would be a 50/50 pickem fight he wins all others bellow comfy.

 

he loses to the elite in the division

 

Depends what happens in the Martinez rematch.
If Julio was to lose again then 168lbs is the only way to revive his career.
Obviously a win against Sergio demands a third fight.

 

Stieglitz, Pavlik and Abraham could be great fights for him with championship names. But he has almost no chance of being the top fighter there. But, his chances were modest at middleweight, so, similar territory. He can still have more good career, there, with his connections. It's not like he'd have to go fight Ward or even Froch or Kessler. He's got a lot of very good options, there.

 

He's not beating Ward or Froch. Outside of them he's cappable of beating anyone at 168.

 

For those that are very confident in Chavez Jr. at 168...why are you confident? I don't mean that condescendingly.\, I just want to understand the overall logic.

The problem I have with placing Chavez Jr at 168 is that he didn't exactly rack up a great "average" on his resume at MW. During his tour de force his best opponents were: Sebastian Zbik,Marco Antonio Rubio, Peter Manfredo Jr., Andy Lee, and then Sergio Martinez.

So he basically beat up on gatekeepers(and he didn't totally beat up on all of them, hard fought decision against Zbik) and was totally outclassed by the elite of the division.

However, what bothers me most about his chances at 168, is that I always was under the impression that he relied on his size too much at MW and that his style might not translate up to 168. Mainly I'm thinking about fights he tried to just walk through the front door of his opponent without at least showing a jab (Rubio, a lot against Lee which awkward at times, Martinez, etc). Most good pressure fighters don't just walk in, they'll stick out the jab. I think that style will cause him problems against even the lower side of the SMW top 10 (in particular against Pavlik).

But I'm hardly a boxing expert, so I want your insight on why you have confidence that he'll do well at 168.