Alexis Arguello wins this fight by a hard earned close but unanimous decision. Julio Caesar Chaves is a very deadly puncher who usually wears down an opponent but Arguello won his title by stopping another deadly puncher in Ruben Olivares on Nov 23 1974 by a TKO 13 to win the title at 126 lbs. I look for Alexis to fight Chavez the same way he fought Olivares. Arguello would establish the left jab to keep Julio off balance. Chavez is not a mobile fighter to offset Alexis. The counter punching will favor Arguello in this contest.
I’d be really interested in 2 things: 1) the moment we see how Chavez reacts to Arguello’s power, and 2) what sort of game plan Chavez would implement after. He isn’t smothering Arguello the way he did Rosario. For an “upright” and textbook boxer Arguello was as natural a puncher as they came. No stiffness in his offensive game or when under fire. Unless he was out on his feet you really needed to watch yourself coming in. One punch. Left or right. Head or body. That’s all it took for the fight to do a 180. If I’m betting, I’d put money on Chavez to start boxing on the move after about the 2nd round. So there’s my prediction for the first 2 rounds.
Over 12, Chavez. Over 15, Arguello. Not many better than Alexis in the championship rounds. I think he takes two of the last three to edge it.
Julio. He could abuse class fighters in close (Rosario) and reach much longer fighters for the KO (Mayweather). He was quicker and more precise on his feet. A great fight for sure. Julio.
Ha. This is my thinking. I never really thought of Chavez as a pressure fighter per se despite his ability to naturally barrel opponents into the phone booth. More an offensive minded boxer puncher but one who fight off the back foot effectively and hold the centre of the ring when he chose to, slipping and countering like many of the well schooled Mexicans. I reckon he'd suss fairly quickly that it was the way to go against Arguello rather than forcing a war. Like you say, Rosario wasn't Arguello.
Yep, Rosario wasn't Arguello but nor was Chavez another Escalera. I think intelligent pressure is the way for Chavez to win. He'll close distance, use his head movement and some lateral movement but I don't think Arguello will have Chavez resetting each time. No doubt that Chavez will have to rely on that tremendous chin of his at times though. Honestly, I'm on the fence a bit with this one. It's probably the best matchup that could be made in super featherweight history. It's the one I'd most want to see anyway.
Agreed. I'd be leery of someone feeling quite strongly one way or another in this one. It's tight. Two fantastic ATG fighters in a match where no-one is overly disadvantaged stylistically IMO.
All’s I said was that Chavez was probably gonna look to box more in this one. I never said that was a bad thing. I’d actually probably favor him in a 12 rounder doing so.