Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Dominik Britsch this Saturday

BoxingNews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Light heavyweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs) will be resuming his stalled career this Saturday night against German fighter Dominik Britsch (32-2-1, 11 KOs) in a 10 round fight at a catchweight of 169lbs at the Monterrey Arena in Monterey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Chavez Jr, 30, still sees himself as a super middleweight, but the fact of the matter is he hasn’t fought in that weight class since 2014. Chavez Jr;s last two fights have taken place in the 175lb division, and his fight on Saturday will be in that division rather than at super middleweight.

It would be better if Chavez Jr. just gave up on the idea of fighting at super middleweight, because it’s not working out for him. He’s not making the weight for the division.

Chavez Jr. feels that his fight against the 29-year-old Britsch will prove that he’s still a top fighter in boxing, even though his opponent is far from being a top fighter in the 168lb division. Britsch has never really done much during his 10-year pro career. Britsch has lost to Roberto Santos and Soulfiene Ouerghi. He’s never beaten any of the top fighters at 168. For that reason, it’s not going to prove anything if Chavez Jr. defeats Britsch.

“Maybe for who I am and for carrying a big name I have received another opportunity from the sport to decide if am leaving or staying,” said Chavez Jr. to The Record. “I now have the chance to prove if I`m in the big leagues or if I am only one of the bunch.”

If Chavez Jr. could get back down to 160 to campaign as a middleweight, he could cash out against Saul Canelo Alvarez or Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. I don’t think Chavez Jr. could ever be a champion again or a major player at 160, because too much time has passed with him being a time fighter. Chavez Jr. also appears to have lost hand speed due to aging. We saw that in his last two fights against Marcos Reyes and Andrzej Fonfara. Chavez Jr. made those guys look fast in comparison, and those are not quick fighters.

Even if Chavez Jr. bets Britsch with ease, which I highly doubt, it’s not going to prove that he’s “in the big leagues.” Britsch is not a major player at 168, and I don’t think he ever will be. If Britsch had the talent to be a op fighter in the super middleweight division, he would have proven it already during his 10-year pro career. The fact of the matter is, Britsch has not proven that he’s a top guy. For that reason, it doesn’t matter if Chavez Jr. beats him easily or not. He’s still not going to be “in the big leagues” in boxing after this fight.

Chavez Jr. was briefly a top fighter at 160, when he was able to boil down from the 180s to fight in the middleweight division. Once Chavez Jr. was exposed by Sergio Martinez in 2012 in losing to him by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision, it ended his time as a middleweight. Chavez Jr. was subsequently suspended for testing positive for a banned substance.

When Chavez Jr. did return to fighting in 2013, he was in the light heavyweight division, beating journeyman Brian Vera by a controversial 10 round unanimous decision. Having seen that fight, I had Vera winning by a wide decision. I wasn’t surprised that the judges gave Chavez Jr. the victory thought. It would have been big news to me if Chavez Jr. had lost, because he was the A-side, and we’d seen Chavez Jr. win controversial decisions in the past.

“Having a mediocre performance on December 10 in Monterrey will be a signal that I am not able to star cards anymore and that I will only be a former world champion that his time has passed by,” said Chavez Jr.

With four years having gone by since Chavez Jr. lost his World Boxing Council middleweight title to Sergio Martinez, I think it’s academic at this point that he’s no longer a star and that he’s just a former world champion. It’s not that Chavez Jr. is old. He’s still fairly young at 30.

The problem that Chavez Jr. has is he’s just not been active, and if you rarely fight for four solid years, you’re not going to be the same athlete as you were before. It would be the same situation if Chavez Jr. was a tennis player or a golfer. You can’t be a part time athlete and expect to get the same results that you got earlier in your career when you worked hard at your craft.

“I`m still here and I`m going to show I can again be the best in the World,” said Chavez Jr. “I`ve been world champion once, and I can do it again. I`m going to win in order to make greater things happen,” Chavez Jr. said.

I hope Chavez Jr. doesn’t take it too hard when he winds up getting exposed again. I don’t think Chavez Jr. is going to lose to Britsch on Saturday night, but I don’t think he’s going to look good either. Chavez Jr. will win this fight, likely look bad, and then get beaten later on down the line once he’s put in with someone halfway decent.