THE MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR Chavez jr v Vera II

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr v Brian Vera  II

March 1
HBO Boxing
12 rounds 168lbs weight limit
PREDICTION: Chavez decision or KO (Vera’s granite chin permitting)

The notion of ‘controversial’ decisions has become all too commonplace in boxing. The first fight between Julio Cesar Chavez jr and Brian Vera ended in a 10 round decision win for Chavez. Many were ‘outraged’ by this result and felt the judges had ‘robbed’ Vera. However, Vera’s only claim to victory would be his much higher work rate and ability to absorb power shots with his granite chin. Chavez boxed with much more skill and intelligence.

A closer look at the first fight will reveal the subtle things Chavez did to outbox Vera.

Chavez came out moving quite well and Vera had trouble finding him. Though Vera kept firing away he only landed a low percentage of punches. With patience and intelligence Chavez picked his spots and was able to get through Vera’s guard repeatedly. He did this by disguising his punches.

In the following video Chavez lands repeatedly with his left hook. He initially mixes up his punches with shots to the body, the head and the occasional jab. Vera doesn’t know what’s coming next. Chavez disguises his punches by starting his swing low and ending high. Watch as Vera moves his right glove away from his chin to block what looks like a body shot or jab only to take a clean left hook to the chin. This happens 7 times in the first 5 rounds.


Vera in contrast was a whirlwind of activity. However he never disguised his punches so Chavez was able to see them coming. In the following video Vera throws a lot of hard shots but they are very predictable. Chavez can see where they are going to land and blocks pretty much all of them by keeping a tight guard. Also notice Vera putting full effort into every shot while Chavez only throws light punches most of the time. 

 The reason for the light punches of Chavez is that when he does throw a bomb Vera is not ready because he is not expecting the change of pace and power. An example can be seen in the following video where Chavez throws a very light right hand lead followed by a gentle jab distracting Vera who drops his guard in response. When Chavez sees the opening he all of a sudden changes pace and unloads a brutal right hand to Vera’s chin which would have dropped all but the toughest of opponents.
                      



By cleverly disguising his punches and patiently picking his spots, Chavez can easily outbox Vera. He just needs to keep it up for the full 12 rounds. In the first fight Chavez was gassed towards the end and so stopped moving, allowing Vera to steal the last 3 rounds by fighting hard to the end. This is what caused the controversy, as up to that point Chavez was in control. If fit on the 1st of March, Chavez should win with the same clever boxing described above. Combined with Vera’s incredible toughness and aggression the rematch should make for another great fight.

For a behind the scenes look at the build up to this fight watch Road To Chavez vs Vera II


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