Julio Caesar Chavez vs Rocky Lockridge, Aug 3 1986, Any thoughts on this fight?

Like most Lockridge fights : B O R I N G!!!!!!!!!!

 

Great though at times gruelling fight.

Perhaps a little dull in the sense it followed a pretty similar pace but great viewing to watch two iron chinned warriors who like it up close.

As it turns out it was more of a boxing/counter punching clinic from Chavez from memory. Who hurt one if his hands early and possibly was starting to have trouble with the weight.

Not a close fight IMO. Trying to find what I scored it as but had it clear for Julio.

 

Rewatched. Gave Rocky 2 rounds, maybe 3 at best. Clinic.

 

Showed what a great all around boxer Chavez was

 

My sentiments exactly...you would expect a fight between these two to be a barnburner ...but no

 

It’s been a while since I watched this, but one thing stands out during the intro. Chavez is listed as having 1 defeat. I don’t know the story behind it, but I seem to remember the loss being wiped from his record.

 

He did have a loss earlier on in his career and some records reporters always kept it in there. I believe The Ring counted it for years. It was a DQ, but his manager was also the Culiacan commissioner and he had the result altered but a lot of records kept the loss.

 

You know what’s funny ? ...Julio Cesar Chavez’s record is probably the reason why most of his haters don’t like him ...it’s the first thing they bring up ( not saying you)

 

Reposting this from the scoring thread because this fight just kinda intrigues me in a weird way.

Just watched Chavez vs Lockridge earlier today and I must say it was just a wonderful performance from a young Julio. I only gave Lockridge the 1st and 5th and had Chavez winning every other round. But what really amazed me was how cerebral and slick Chavez was here. It's almost surreal to see but Chavez was moving and boxing beautifully, he was incredibly slick, he reminded me of Inoue in the 12th round a couple time by the way he moved and how he jumped in and out with his punches. It was a very clever game-plan implemented by Chavez and his team to deal with an aggressive and powerful fighter like Lockridge also. Chavez would move laterally constantly to ensure that Lockridge wouldn't be able to set his feet to punch, but not only was he moving laterally, but he was circling Lockridge rather than circling the ring so that he could maintain mental pressure on Rocky even on the back-foot. As well, Chavez was timing Lockridge with counters continuously, throwing a sharp, accurate straight right over Lockridge's lazy jab over and over again. Another way Chavez dealt with the power of Lockridge was by forcing Rocky to smother his shots by taking the fight to the inside. Chavez, uncharacteristically, allowed himself to be pushed back and sometimes even bullied a little on the inside, he seemed less certain of his physicality at 130 than he did at higher weights it seemed. Despite this though he still outworked Lockridge inside, slipping and ducking Rocky's shots only to return with a counter or a combination. Chavez also had his uppercut working for him incredibly well later in the fight when Rocky began to tire and lean over his front-foot as he desperately pursued Julio. As he came into range, Chavez would rip lead uppercuts, move, and force Lockridge to reset and to reconsider how effective it was trying to walk down Chavez. Just an all-round masterclass from Chavez quite honestly.

It was really great to see actually, I feel as though Chavez's celebrity and status as a national symbol for Mexico meant he became overly wedded to the idea of Mexican style, to the point where he forgot or underutilised parts of his style. There are some technical intricacies I feel Chavez showed a clear mastery over in this fight that he nonetheless let fall by the wayside later in his career due to the pressure placed upon him to conform to the idea of machismo, to be this almost Platonic ideal of a Latin-American man, someone who is tough and rugged, relentless and vicious. Chavez is so often and so inaccurately portrayed as a stereotypical brawler, someone who only knew how to fight coming forward when the reality is so much more complex than that. There was so much more to Chavez, his style was so layered and versatile and it really is a shame that he abandoned so much of it later on in his career. This fight just really got me thinking and I just had to write it down somewhere.

 

This fight was also a bit of a passing of the torch too, Rocky would go sporadic after this and Chavez would rise,fly and shine like a comet-xican.(This pun is horrible don't fry me)

 

Chavez wasn't as physically strong down @130 as he would be @135-140 - Lockridge, LaPorte, & to a lesser extent Martinez were all able to back him up & force him to fight off the back foot or off the ropes.

He also used a more balanced mix of boxing and slugging down @130 than @ higher weights.

 

I am impressed with the amount of appreciation Chavez is receiving here. I was expecting more of the usual hate, bitterness, and revisionist history. Refreshing.

 

Chavez won 9-3/8-4 easily.