Mentally i mean? And how good was he p4p? When you consider in his prime Meldrick Taylor was outboxing him till the 12th, Pernell outboxed him and Randall outboxed him? When i say mentally im referring to the fact that he seemed to quit against Randall the second time because in that round Randall was landing big,flush shots and Chavez didnt want to get koed.
He was an utter pansy. For toughness, it goes Cintron>Chavez>Greb>>>>Valuev. Yeah, I know. See what I did there? I reversed the sarcasm back the other way so you would be...ah, never mind. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.
He is good, just an awkward tall boxer-puncher. Akward as hell with his long shots. I see no reason to think havez was mentally untough.
:huh I have always thought the only way to interpret the 1st Taylor fight was as evidence of severe mental strength and an iron will. I don't understand how anyone can think differently. In that fight Chavez was comprehensively outfought for the vast majority of the rounds, took many many clean punches, and was basically staring the shattering of a long, proud unbeaten record square in the face. There are so many ways to come unravelled in that situation. He could've became frustrated and got DQ'd, he could've got downhearted at Taylor's apparent superiority, he could've allowed the end of the unbeaten run to play on his mind, he could've got desperate and went gung-ho for a KO and left himself wide open, he could've wilted physically in the face of eating so many shots over the duration, he could've meekly accepted that by the latter stages the fight was over as he was too far behind... ...but he did none of these things. He stayed confident, he stayed composed, he put his punches together perfectly, and he got his reward. I think his performance in that last round, considering what had gone before, showed remarkable fortitude, awareness, and boxing ability. Couldn't disagree more with this thread premise.
In his prime, he was a terminator. Sure he phoned it in a few times towards the end of his career, but you can forgive a guy for going a bit slack after 90 odd fights.
:good Good post also Chavez EMO was as a cool assasin knowing things would turn out his way. That takes a lot of mental fortitude.
He took the right hands of Mayweather,La Porte, Martinez & Rosario without flinching. and hunted down each with a dismantling. Except LaPorte, close fight).
Chavez getting outboxed has what to do with mental toughness? The Taylor fight saw him keep his cool and remain uttely committed to his style, which in the end paid dividends for him. Up until the second Randall fight there was no sign of Chavez ever wanting to quit in a fight, sure he was rarely behind in a fight but Chavez took alot of shots throughout his career and almost always closed the show impressively.
At one point Angelo Dundee was quoted as calling Chavez the toughest fighter he ever saw. If that means anything to anyone.
If you asked me to name the first fighter i can think of who describes toughness, there's a chance it will be JCC. Guy was nails.
Chavez was an exceptional fighter at 130 and 135. Still terrific at 140. He began to believe his own hype late in his career but straight through the Taylor fight he was incredible ... he was not simply tough, he was Mexican tough, a brand in iteslf !