Julio César Chávez, Sr. vs. Roberto Durán, 7/23/2016

This is happening, in case you were not yet aware.

Exhibition two-rounder on the Crawford vs. Postol undercard, and will air live on the PPV.

Chávez will be the slightly "fresher" man, removed from his retirement - both literally, made to quit on his stool by Grover Wiley, and in the broader sense - by ten years + ten months, while for Durán it will have been exactly 15 years and two weeks since he last fought in the prize ring. (a UD loss to Héctor Camacho, Sr.)

No, it won't count for anything really - or appear on their official records - but this is two legends squaring off (genuine legends, each one a dyed-in-the-wool no-doubt-about-it A.T.G.), not to mention a featured bout on a major PPV event (major because its headline attraction is a unification between unbeaten light welterweight champions, and because it will be my last ever official RBR! :shock so it merits discussion.

How do you see it unfolding, when the bell rings? Will they both just respectfully paw jabs at each other while circling in a nice, slow-paced, let's-try-not-to-break-our-hips mutually respectful and crowd-displeasing lull for six minutes? ...or will the old itch of either man (or both) flare up, with their equally notorious pride & blood-lust demanding they go all-out in their last bid to prove themselves el mas macho and have their hand raised versus a peer in the pantheon of greats, exhibition be damned? :think

If they do go to war, does either of them get badly hurt? Chávez will have just passed his 54th birthday in mid-July. Durán will have turned 65 the month before. They have 1,455 professional rounds of boxing logged between them. Neither ever strayed too far away from the sport, with Chávez heavily involved with his sons' careers and Durán putting in brief stints as trainer here and there (and is currently holding the mitts for Shane Mosley in prep for his challenge of David Avanesyan on Memorial Day Weekend). How sharp can they be, though? If either of them gets through with a spiteful bomb - can the other man still take it?

Will there be a KO? (They won't use headgear, AFAIK)

What is Arum's plan if they split the pair of rounds? Will there be a third round for a tiebreaker, like in the Boxcino tourneys? Or do they just ride off into the sunset with an unofficial draw?

I can't believe calling a Chávez vs. Durán match is going to be among my last ever official RBR duties. Is this real life?


Poll will go up tomorrow. :good

 

I don't get why they don't just make it an officially sanctioned 4-rounder and let it count, if they're willing to go through with it in the first place at all (and have it be on PPV, no less, for all the world to see - so clearly neither is too worried about embarrassing themselves at this age)

Regardless of the result, this would give Durán the distinction of becoming the - I think, maybe only ever? - person to have boxed professionally in six decades.

...and losing hurts neither one's legacy.

 

Durán made his debut in 1968. A year before Woodstock. Jimi Hendrix was alive. Julio César Chávez, Sr. was still playing with army men in his family's abandoned boxcar (probably smashing one into the other in a Sugar Ramos vs. Carlos Ortiz revenge fantasy) and wouldn't take up even amateur boxing for another decade yet. Bernard Hopkins was still breastfeeding.


...and he's going to appear on a PPV in 2016. Mind boggling.

 

I kind of feel like JCC might destroy him, depending on whether he's so inclined. :conf

On paper he should be able to, being so much younger and relatively in-shape...and with more recent experience lacing up the gloves...

Chávez has actually fought in a few exhibitions over the years since retiring, most recently in July of 2015 versus Mario 'Azabache' Martínez (whom Chávez kayoed in 1984 to claim his first world title, and remained good friends with ever since).

Chávez & Martínez reportedly pulled a lot of punches and held back visibly so as to not do any real damage to each other (while still making it as entertaining as they could without any spiteful blows, as this was a charity benefit). Then again, they're longtime friends. Chávez might not be so generous with Durán, a more or less complete stranger ...but one he may, on the other hand, simply have too much respect for to exploit how old & fat he is and go for the knockout. :think

 

Anybody know if Tapatalk has poll adding functionality? I know the mobile version of the site doesn't.

 

I can't find a setting anywhere.

 

Well, not only...

Jerry Lawler and Terry Funk had a brutal hardcore match for a podunk backwater promotion a few months ago. :!: :-(

...at least Chávez and Durán will be making bank (or earning it for their choice of charity, perhaps) for their efforts.

 

Chávez and Durán are 119 years old combined.

Lawler and Funk are 137!!!! :scaredas:

 

It was, however, am embarrassment. :-(