Last night at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., second generation superstar Julio Cesar Chavez Jr made his light heavyweight debut against Andrzej Fonfara, and Fonfara made sure Chavez would regret it. Fonfara out-boxed and out-slugged Chavez, dropping him in the ninth round for the first time in his career. Chavez would stay on his stool and not come out for the following round. It was a great career win for Fonfara, who came in as the betting underdog for this fight.
Chavez night ended with a precautionary trip to the hospital. That will give him time to consider how the wheels have come off of his career here the last few years.
Back in September of 2012, the then undefeated Chavez faced Sergio Martinez of Argentina, who was a fading older champion who had seen his best days. Well Martinez, schooled Chavez for the better part of the match. Then an unfortunate thing happened, and that is Chavez dropped Martinez in the last round. Martinez scrambled like a veteran trying to survive and the judges were in his favor. But Chavez took it arrogantly, pointing to the knockdown and ignoring the previous eleven rounds.
The Chavez story is one that is full of ego and mishaps ever since. He has been suspended for marijuana use, and he had only fought twice since the Martinez fight. Both those matches were against Brian Vera. Chavez looked bad in the first outing, and he changed the weight class of the fight on two occasions in the build up. He had also not fought for more than a year before facing Fonfara, as he was embroiled in a lawsuit against old promoter Top Rank.
Moving up to light heavyweight, two full weight classes was a bizarre move, but Chavez talked about it with arrogance, saying he would be strong. Well, Fonfara was clearly stronger and the added weight made Chavez look slower than usual.
And it is not like going to super middleweight, the division he skipped over to get to light heavyweight will save him. The competition at the top of that weight class, such as Carl Forch and Andre Ward would clean up with the version of Chavez we have been seeing. Or maybe he is not a main event fighter and can settle into the life of a journeyman.
