Interesting match up. Chavez is the better tactician. but he is no Welterweight. Could Chavez' give and take style. withstand Cuevas' mind numbing power?
No disrespect Carnal but Chavez has no business above 140. He himself admitted that the most he could weight is 143 for a fight.
You can have success against a heavy puncher if you're a pressure fighter if you can take away their punching room and smother them, but you still have to be able to take their punches, fundamentally. Even against Rosario, Chavez got hit a lot. I'm just not sure even his chin can stand up to the weight on a consistent basis.
One of the few times we agree. I actually think Chavez can outbox him and his chin can withstand what it needs to in order to survive. If he tries to trade frequently with Pipino, he could be taken out though.
If he approaches the fight like the Rosario fight he loses. If he boxes like he showed he could against Frankie Randall, he has a good chance of winning imo.
I think Chavez could hurt Cuevas himself and hes much more likely to land. He is probably a better welter than given credit for, no shame in losing to Whitaker and he was past it against DLH but took Oscars power well enough
Cuevas is not the good style for Chavez. Chavez works better when he is cutting off the ring. He did well with Rosario at 135 another puncher, but Cuevas was greater than Rosario and was natural at 147 where Chavez was not strong enough. Rosario never had 10 title defenses like Cuevas.
Only if Cuevas goes down to about 143 1/2 lbs would I favor Chavez. I am a huge Chavez fan but this fight would be problematic as Cuevas is one of the hardest hitting men ever at 147.
It's difficult to rate Chavez at 147 because he never beat anyone of note at the weight and looked bad in most of his performances as a welter. Thus we have to go by his performances at 140 and below. There's a very good chance that Cuevas simply ends up being too big for Chavez to handle. Cuevas had the combination of great punching power as well as a good chin and the stamina to go 15 rounds at his peak.
Acually its 11. or 12? Randy Shields broke the string in the 11th defense,by going the distance. ( 10 consecutive defenses by knockout, a Welterweight record) Was Harold Volbretcht the last defence? I remember Cuevas Knocking him out on Easter Sunday, on ABC TV. Leonard was ringside & appeared rattled by the brutal fashion inwhich Volbretcht was dispatched.