Round 1 Vera lands some sharp jabs, Chavez lands the heavier hooks Close round. Round Chavez. Round 2 Chavez slipping and evading alot of shots, he lands the best shots of the round, just not enough as Vera was just much more active and landed enough punches to take the round. Round Vera. Round 3 Busy busy busy, that was Vera. Chavez lands the best shots of the round the last minute of the round, just not enough to steal the round from the much busier Vera. Round Vera. Round 4 Vera again busier. Chavez lands heavier, this time a little more consistent than the previous round. Extremely close round, could go to either, but imo Chavez stole it at the end with a solid hard combination that caught Vera's attention. Round Chavez. Round 5 Chavez lands alot of clean hooks early, right hands mid round. Clearly Chavez best round as he controls the space and catches Vera the aggressor coming in. Round Chavez Round 6 Like the 5th, Chavez lands heavy and clean and even more consistent that he did the previous round. Vera is made to miss with Chavez hands down defense which he's trying to implement (Sergio Martinez) style. Round Chavez Round 7 More of the same from the previous two rounds, Chavez plays defense swiveling his waist, and consistently tags Vera with hooks and straight right. I'm thinking right now, if this were Mayweather or any slick defensive fighter out there, forum members here would call the last three rounds a schooling. But this is Chavez doing this. He's stereotypically should be charging foward, so he does'nt get any credit for boxing. The mindset of alot of you haters is, "if Chavez is retreating, he's losing!" Vera toward the end tries to steal the round by tagging Chavez some clean shots and taking him to the ropes, but Chavez responds the last few seconds and hits Vera with a shot and followup that make his legs buckle. Round Chavez. Round 8 For the first time in the fight Chavez goes foward as the aggressor. The drawback is that he's chasing and not throwing enough punches. Vera is being busy throwing sharp combinations down the center. He simply outworks Chavez in this round and lands enough clean punches to win the round despite again Chavez landing the telling 2 or 3 blows in the round. Chavez just is'nt busy enough in the round. Round Vera Round 9 The aggressor is'nt doing very good in this fight. Chavez again the aggressor in the round and its Vera who disects him center ring with jabs, hooks, and straight rights. Simply all Vera as Chavez is showing signs of fatigue. Round Vera. Round 10 Vera clearly outworks Chavez in the last round. Chavez predictably with his weight issues fatigued down the stretch. Round Vera Final score is 5 rounds a piece or 95-95 a draw. Got the feeling that if Chavez had energy he'd blow away Vera. When he'd tag vera with a heavy shot, he'd never follow it up. Its a pity, Chavez should'nt be struggling against a Vera type but thats what happens when you dont do the work in the gym, you struggle or get beat by stepping stones like Vera.
Basically my same card......except I saw a winded Vera in the 10th as well. Still throwing more, but again, being far less effective with his landed shots. And I like your point about Chavez going backwards. He did have some moments where he was looking to counter and did so brilliantly. If that were Rigo or Roid, they coulda been outlanded 5-1 and still won those rds due to crisp counterpunching. Hell, Marquez makes a living doing it. :think
It isn't that Chavez is going backwards, it is his body language while doing it. Mayweather body language reads composed, confident, and intelligent. Chavez's body language was unsure, tired, and scared. Acting is part of boxing.
Well, I don't think Chavez is going to win any academy awards.......come to think of it......he aint gonna win no big fights unless he utilizes his size and reasserts himself as that do or die body puncher who works as if he's got a jump rope tied around his waist and the waist of his opponent.:think
:nutYou have to smile, pose, and stick you tongue out to make it count? :nut Mid rounds Chavez was comfortable enough for me. He won those rounds pretty handily imo. The problem with Chavez is that he's not in shape to fight 3 minutes of every round if pressed to do so. Chavez is'nt a hands down defensive guy like Martinez. My feeling is that he was fighting that way because he was arm weary and fighting with your hands down actually keeps your arms from getting stiff from the fatigue. You keep and stretch your arms down like that and it relaxes the arm muscles. The problem is in training camp. Not enough attention being paid to arm conditioning. The ability to continously throw punches, which means Jr. has'nt been hitting the heavy or speedbag as he should. Jr was fat just weeks to go to fight time. I imagine he had to do alot of running to come down in weight. The focus was in losing the weight and not in honing the skills as a boxer and keeping up the arm stamina with punching drills. As you can see, Chavez' legs were fine. He moved and played defense swiveling his waist and avoiding incoming just fine. Its his activity with moving his arms to punch that was lacking. In the last couple of rounds Chavez' punches were dragging.
A fighter his size better utilizes his size by fighting from distance instead of the way you describe. Chavez did well against Vera at distance letting Vera come to him. What Chavez has got to do is work more on punching technique and punching drills to keep his hands moving so that he can let loose his punches in the ring. It starts with keeping himself in better condition all year round so that he has more time to work on punching drills and technique instead of focusing on losing all the weight from the bad nutrition habits outside of training camp. Chavez Jr. is in dire need of a trainer who is a diciplinarian. At one point there was talk of Nacho Beristain training Jr., but apparently Jr. offered him peanuts as compensation and Nacho let it be known publicly he was insulted. Chavez Jr. needs Nacho's services. It would be a wise move that Chavez work it out with Nacho to give himself the best chance at taking it to the next level. If he's serious about success, he'll hire Nacho, it not, he's going to flounder in mediocrity for the rest of his career.
I don't think they'll be looking for Nacho anytime soon. Chavez Sr. Commented before Saturdays fight that Jr wanted to return with Roach after the vera fight. He also mentioned that he found Nachos comments about his son (JR) disrespectful, apparently Nacho called Jr an "addict" in an interview or something.
You're likely right. Nacho when pressed does'nt pull his punches, he fires with unadulterated truth. Nacho has'nt been to kind with his words when he talks about future possibilites of greatness for Mexico's two top fan favorites, Chavez and Canelo. I'm certain neither Jr. or Sr. did'nt like Nacho not mincing his words. Its to bad really. Roach's had his try at Jr. and he has'nt been able to keep him interested or motivated.
The 1st and 6th were the only clear rounds for Chavez. The 7th is one you absolutely have to give to Vera. Chavez rocked him off balance with like eight seconds left but had done nothing before that. Yeah, nice punch - but if it doesn't score a knockdown it doesn't reverse the previous 2:50.
Just rewatched the 7th and it was close. On rewatching the 7th, had it not been for those shots that stunned Vera in the closing seconds, I may have given him the round. Either way, Chavez had a subpar performance and its due to bad conditioning.
