Julio Cesar Chavez - Ring Interview 'Best I've faced' (March, 17th 2020)

Glad he gave Taylor a ton of credit.

 

Nice to see for once one of these that seems honest.

 

Complete bull****. Always always a fighter will give more credit to another fighter that he defeated but never to a guy that did beat him. Whitaker was better than taylor and chavez. Julio cesar chavez is overrated . yes people will get mad but i don't give a crap about it. Roberto Duran would **** him up. And mayweather jr would beat his crap anyday

 

Me too. Great fighter to watch. Gave his all and paid dearly but I still love watching him.

 

Not complete bull**** at all. Maybe he recognises that the Chavez who Taylor faced was much better than the one Whitaker faced so Taylor's performance, while losing, may have been better than Whitaker's. Thought about that? I'll take his word for it over yours, at any rate. You know. Given that he was there, and all.

And no. Duran would not have ***ed him up. I think Duran would have beaten him but Chavez was a better fighter than de Jesus and Buchanan and they gave Duran hell. And if you seriously think Mayweather has an easy fight then good luck with that opinion.

 

Had Julio stayed at 135 we would be talking about a Top 3 Lightweight. He was that spectacular at that weight. Just moved up too quickly.

Truth.

 

Chavez was a monster at 130 to 135.
I reckon he was handful for any fighter at those weights.
Cheers.

 

Maybe someone didn't read the article but he totally implied that Taylor wore his a$s out and was outpunching him by leagues in that first fight, he was standing in there and hitting him, Whitaker wasn't fighting him like that. Different fights, one grueling and painful and one he couldn't find the guy. Different fights. Compubox has Taylor hitting Chavez 457 times in 12 rds and Whitaker 311 in 12 rds. Obviously very different fights. I think it is a pretty fair statement by Julio and Taylor more than earned and more than deserves the credit he was just given. Had Julio given it all to Whitaker you may have just complained about how Taylor didn't get it?. Also, while the Whitaker decision was derided in the states, many in England, and likely some other Eurolands felt it to be a fair enough decision. Different strokes. Last, if a former sparring partner of Chavez convinced the majority of the world he defeated Mayweather Jr, I wouldn't completely count Julio out in a match with him

 

No mention of Tszyus power?
Silly talk!

 

A surprisingly candid seeming list. I'm a little surprised not to see Tszyu make an appearance but JCC was the one getting punched in the mouth so I'll take his word for it.

 

I'm more disappointed he didn't mention Frankie Randall in at least one category. Hard luck Fankie gave JCC his first loss and was gyped in the rematch by a technical cut decision in a fight that seemed to be going Frankie's way. He was barely alluded to in this article. JCC didn't seem to want to acknowledge him or give him any credit at all.

 

I stand corrected. He gave a passing mention to Randall in the Best Puncher category.

 

I use to often think the same as some here as regards fighters rarely seem to credit fighters they lose to later on in their careers and afterwards. Always wondered what that was about. Coincidentally, some months back a ran across the "10 Best..." that was done by Erik Morales about 10ish years ago and he provided an insight into that thinking and mindset that I think kinda covers a lot of it. Basically he says that fighters don't tend to look at this question in the same manner as a fan would. Saying that as the fighter in question, in his heart he knew, obviously, the nights he was gonna go into the ring as prepared as he could possibly be, he knew when he did, or didn't take shortcuts in training camp, whether he ditched out for a few days or a week, or if he trained like a monk. So he knew that when he went in at the peak of his condition , if his opponent gave him a hard time when he was the best he could have possibly been that night, it made that opponent in his eyes someone to think of as a very difficult and good/great fighter. He also said that this is the way MANY top fighters think, and I kinda got the idea that he felt that many of them HAD to think this way because, these guys have to have a reason, outside of he money of course, to attempt to get back in the ring after a loss or after a bad performance, they have to be able to convince themselves that it wont be a bad night again. Over years you learn, or you teach yourself to learn; what it takes you personally, mentally wise, to get back in and fight another man like this in front of the world. During his career Morales was always coming off like he rode the highest horse, him against the boxing world, what many would see as an highly egotistical narcissist. But I think that was who HE needed to be to do what he did in his career. They way he talks and acts today is about as far away from the personality he showed in his career. Honestly, doesn't that sound like a LOT of former big time fighters, once it is no longer necessary for them to be "that" guy they were?
He is asked who his toughest opponent is
“If you’re talking about the toughest opponent I’ve faced, to be honest, his name was Erik Morales,” he said in all seriousness. “When I did things the right way and had proper training, boxing was easy for me, but all too often I did not do that. So, as you know, I had a lot of struggles.

“Honestly, I had too many tough fights to say one man was tougher than all the rest. I know fans want me to say that it was either Barrera or Pacquiao, but I don’t see it that way. That’s not how a fighter views things. There are fighters who people have forgotten about or never knew that were the toughest fights, the biggest fights for me at the time I fought them.
, https://www.ringtv.com/124261-erik-morales-best-ive-faced/

 

Chavez seems pretty gracious to me in this. And unlike all the others who say the guy they beat was the best fighter they faced I actually believe Julio when he says Taylor.

Chavez was in his physical prime when he met Taylor and was a consensus top 1-3 fighter in the world at that point. And Taylor gave him absolute hell to an extent that no one else had until that point in his career. I can understand why Chavez was so impressed because Taylor was magnificent that fight and it’s a testament to Chavez’s greatness that he hung in there and got the win (lucky though it may be) but as he said he had to go to the absolute brink to pull it off.

Chavez knew he wasn’t big enough to compete at 147 and wasn’t at his best when Whitaker was robbed against him. Likewise he was too small and old when De La Hoya beat him but he still gave both men credit for aspects of their game (which plenty of others in these articles won’t do). And for the other losses (ie Tszyu) Chavez was a shell and I don’t blame him for not mentioning them.

Chavez from 87-92 was one of the best fighters I’ve ever seen full stop. Just a superb, complete fighter and one of my absolute favourites to watch.