Brian certainly has the fitness, durability and stamina to make this an High-Octance Battle for Julio, Perhaps a Julio who lacks some of the Experience he was to later pick up on his way through Lightweight to Jr Welter dominance, Or perhaps thanks to how often he fought he had that versatility from an earlier stage, of the two i think Julio can comfortably fight off the back foot and look to catch Brian coming in with Combo's, I suspect that Brian would not cope with the Educated 'Pattern Bombing' of Chavez on the Advance. Julio's Shots may carry a little more Steam here which may inhibit some of the Mitchell aggression, I am not too sure Mitchells Shots would have any adverse effects on Julio's steady and assured Modus Operandi I think after the Half way stage Brian is coming to the conclusion that he is in with no ordinary talent, in the last third he may be happy to hear the final bell as an Honourable Runner up Julio on points.
One of the best fighters of all time beats a pedestrian champ. JCC would have been the best Mitchell ever fought, Mitchell wouldn't have been in JCC's top 5.
Competitive for about 6rounds then JC finds the range and timing. Mitchell will be lucky to make the final bell. JC Chavez is a legend for a reason.
Good post. Look at Mitchell's record as champion. He beat a rather mediocre list of challengers. Tony Lopez was by far his best opponent and win. Mitchell was a solid fighter with good fundamentals but if he had faced the best 130 lb. fighters of his day, I do not believe he would have been champion nearly as long as he was. Chavez would break him down and likely win on a late stoppage either on cuts or referee intervention.
I tend to think Chavez beats him easier than I'd like to say he would. Because Mitchell deserves his status of an under appreciated titlist but it's just not a good matchup for him.
Mitchell is one of those hipster favourites who gets a bit overrated because a few reckon he is underrated. He was a very good fighter, and Chavez would have to work hard to get the victory. Chavez would beat Mitchell ten times out of ten though.
... and I think Chavez gets the reverse treatment. A few have picked at his record and implied he's overrated, so he kind of gets underrated, imo.
Chavez did have close fights with Laporte and Lockridge here, two fighters on a similar overall quality level to Mitchell at this weight. I know it was bandied about by his camp he was struggling with the weight by that point, and to an extent that is likely true, but he certainly didn't look like the truly drained generally do ie McCallum vs McCrory, Kalule vs Moore, Curry last couple of fights at Welter etc But even questioning just how weight-weakened he really was, Mitchell is closer in style to the past prime-but still decent enough-Castillo and Azabache Martinez that Chavez rolled over. Lockridge and Laporte were both hard punchers that could gainJulio's respect, whereas i doubt he'll bother about anything the average-hitting at best Mitchell throws. Add in Mitchell not being an overly mobile or safety-first fighter and not having any advantages in textbook skills(but good enough there to be competitive) and you've got a good fight where one just has clearly more firepower and is generally sharper than the other, and only one man is going to be in danger of getting hurt and worn down. I think it would be competitive enough through 6-7 with Chavez ahead, then pulling away comfortably over the 2nd half.Maybe gets a stoppage...not sure there as Mitchell was tough.
Mitchell is overrated. He had a glossy record but inspection of it shows a mediocre quality of opposition save for Tony Lopez, possibly Frankie Mitchell and Jim McDonnell. His reign was littered with defenses against declining fighters like Jacki Beard (twice) and Irving Mitchell.
Mitchell did have a rather protected reign as champ* and sometimes the quality of his opposition did leave something to be desired, but he was also the kind of guy who stepped up when the competition got tougher. If nothing else, there would be little doubt in Mitchell's mind that he could beat Chavez. Obviously I'd favour Chavez since his strengths match Mitchell's well and he's better at most things, but Mitchell would have his moments and it would be a very entertaining fight. Mitchell usually looked poor against stick-and-move types but he did better against come-forward pressure guys. I think Mitchell could definitely last the distance given his conditioning and chin, but I can't see him as a winner. Julio was just a class above. *Given that he was not allowed to defend his title at home, I think that Mitchell had to face many situations and deal with adversities that 'home town' champs never did. So it kinda makes up for it somewhat.
