If you paid Greg to shut up he couldn't do it. Give him some angle, anything to insult, and he'd find a way. He was fundamentally incapable of not offending.
Sometimes a fighter gets the ass whupping he deserves. Chavez vs Haugen , Haugen got what he deserved I didn't remember the fight had one of the biggest live gates in history. I remember thinking before the fight, it would be a one-sided beat down. It was. Most of the times, most fighters know not to pull the tail of the sleeping lion. Sometimes though some do. B.Parent (Deserved the beating, not to die) Earnie Terrell, and Tyrell Biggs, got taught a similar lesson.
This was a triumph of true promotion. You had JCC, an insanely popular fighter from Mexico, who had staged most of his big fights and title fights in the U.S. (especially Las Vegas). So Don King found the biggest talker he could, rented the biggest arena he could, probably scaled down the cheap seats to assure a sellout and brought Haugen to fight Julio on his native soil. After that it was just winding Haugen up and letting him run his mouth. He inflamed the Mexican fan base and they paid to see the heel take his whupping … and he did.
I think Chavez could have sold as many tickets at that venue with any opponent, as long as his title was at stake Of course Haughen's quip about Chavez inflating his record by beating Taxi Drivers didn't hurt the box office.
Chavez was at the peak of his fame. Much respect to Greg Haugen, a real warrior, he wasn't gonna kiss Chavez's a$$ in the preflight buildup so he talked some mess but he went into the ring in front of 100,000 Mexicans and tried to back it up. Like him or not he had balls. For some reason I'll alwaysremember Haugen's Ringwalk that nite to Born in the USA. That alone took guts.
