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September 1998
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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CHAVEZ MUST FALL
DIsrespected De La Hoya is in a destructive mood as he prepares for rematch with Mexican legend. |
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GETTING HARDER: Chavez keeps winning,but these days he struggles
against opponents who would not have lived with him in his prime
- Get Big Pic "You'd better be careful, Oscar - this old man is dangerous!" promoter Bob Arum exclaimed
on American pay-per-view television after Julio Cesar Chavez had stopped plucky but
outgunned Ken Sigurani in the third round on 25 June. But the warning to Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya was simply to pump up PPV-TV interest,
not a genuine alert to the possibility of danger. The fact is that the 36-year-old Chavez
stands virtually no chance in the welterweight championship rematch that takes place at
the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas on 18 September, hosted by Caesars Palace. Two years ago, De La Hoya reduced Chavez to what boxing writers often call a bloody
mess in four rounds at Caesars. The general feeling at the time was that, even had Chavez not been horribly cut over
the left eye, De La Hoya would have stopped him anyway. The younger, taller, faster De La
Hoya was dominant and won every round. Yet Chavez does not accept that he was beaten on merit. Afterwards he refused to give
De La Hoya any respect. He said that he had been cut in training before the fight but had
not given the injury time to heal, which was why blood flowed in the very first round. Chavez said after that fight that De La Hoya had never hurt him. His nose was bloodied
but not broken, he said. Blood getting into his eye meant he could not see, he told us. He
said he wanted a rematch. De La Hoya said he would be happy to oblige. Now, Chavez gets the opportunity. Promoter Arums Top Rank organisation is billing the
fight as Ultimate Revenge - Now It's Personal. De La Hoya, 25, was angered by Chavez's comments after the last fight, called the
Mexican legend a cry-baby. "It was an easy fight," De La Hoya said. So, why do it again? The answer is that Chavez, even though he is a faded veteran who has suffered cuts in
five fights in the last four years, is still a major attraction in the Hispanic community.
The fight makes sound business sense. At a press conference attended by both boxers at Los Angeles in July, Chavez was
cheered by Mexican spectators, De La Hoya booed and jeered. De La Hoya, who a month earlier had received a rapturous welcome - mainly from teenaged
women - when he stopped Patrick Charpentier at El Paso, Texas, was apparently rattled. He
told a reporter that he could not understand why Chavez is so popular when the older man's
private life has hardly been exemplary - a reference to the reported drinking and
womanising. But Chavez has captured the hearts of his Mexican countrymen, who remember his
many great victories in a career that began 18 years ago and includes six world titles in
three weight classes, from super featherweight to light-welter. To them, he is a man of
the people. The Los Angeles-born De La Hoya has, in contrast, a yuppie image, with his
millionaire lifestyle and Hollywood looks. All of this serves merely to sharpen the focus of De La Hoya, who, make no mistake,
wants not just to defeat Chavez but to destroy him with a career-ending shellacking. De La Hoya has told interviewers that he hopes the fight can go seven or eight rounds
this time, so that he can punish Chavez. Despite his charm and easy smile, De La Hoya can
be cruel. There will be no mercy whatsoever, he says. This fight is very, very personal. But Chavez will have you believe that it is a fight he can and will win. Yes, he was
unimpressive in his disputed draw with fellow-Mexican Miguel Angel Gonzalez in Mexico City
in March, but he says a troublesome elbow injury had not fully healed. He was, he says,
only 50% that night. "The pressure this time is all on De La Hoya," he adds. As to his opponent's talk about
punishing him and stopping him, Chavez merely smiles and says he will let De La Hoya do
all the talking. "I am very calm," he says. "I am just waiting. I am the one who knows what I
have inside of me." Chavez has been training since late July at the small resort community of Breckenridge,
Colorado (60 miles west-southwest of Denver), which is 9,600 ft above sea level. His
adviser, Alberto Gonzales, said from training camp: "He is definitely going to pull off the
surprise, that's what his attitude is." There have been tax problems in Mexico and Chavez's marriage appears to have collapsed.
But at time of writing he was looking forward to enjoying the companionship of his sons
(Julio Cesar Jr, Omar and Christian, ages 12, nine and six respectively) in training camp. "Marriage problems? I can't tell you anything about that, I don't want to get involved in
family issues," Sen. Gonzales said. "The tax problems are in Mexico and have been going on
for two years, but he's just about finished with the problems there. He's not in financial
difficulty. He has real estate and business interests in his hometown of Culiacan, he has
fixed assets and some of the businesses have not done so well, there is a little bit of a
cash-flow [problem] but the businesses will turn around and everything will be okay." What Julio says is there is no crisis in his life. He knows there have been a lot of
controversial things written about him - especially by reporters in the United States -
and he says he is "going to shock everybody and shut a lot of mouths. That's why he's here
[in Colorado], concentrating [on the fight]." What Oscar has said, Julio says it doesn't
make any difference. He says that "people can do a lot of talking outside the ring, but in
the ring we'll see whats going to happen." "The strategy I don't discuss with him. His attitude is that he's going to win. That's all
he has got in mind. And I think as time progresses and he gets more prepared, he'll have it
in his mind to knock De La Hoya out." Knock De La Hoya out? It hardly seems likely. Chavez looked an old, tired fighter in
the Mexico City bout with Gonzalez and finished with one eye swollen almost shut. Although
he crumpled Ken Sigurani with a right, he suffered a cut over the right eye (from a clash
of heads) and had lost the first two rounds. And Sigurani had previously been knocked out
in one round by the Puerto Rican veteran, Antonio Rivera: he was the perfect opponent for
Chavez, a boxer without punching power who also was unlikely to be able to absorb a heavy
wallop. We look at some of Chavez's recent bouts and see nothing to suggest he can get De La
Hoya out of the fight. Last year he had a tough 10-round points win against the capable
Tony Martin, of Philadelphia, in which Chavez suffered a bruised and swollen eye. He was
unimpressive against journeyman Larry La Coursiere, when he had to go the full 10 rounds
and suffered a cut over the eye. In truth, Chavez has been in steady decline. We saw it when Frankie Randall knocked him
down and outpointed him at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and that was back in January 1994. Chavez might have lost the rematch, too, had the bout not ended unsatisfactorily in the
eighth round when the Mexican was cut in a clash of heads: Chavez escaped with a
controversial, split technical decision. In 1995 he was cut against David Kamau, of Kenya,
and had to dig down deep to win the fight on a unanimous decision. Kamau was subsequently
blown out in two rounds by De La Hoya. Then we have Chavez's bloody loss to De La Hoya in June 1996, and the close call with
Gonzalez earlier this year, when a scoring mix-up appeared to deprive his opponent of
victory. It is often true, however, that ageing fighters can produce great performances even
late in their careers. Chavez certainly has massive motivation for the fight with De La
Hoya. His pride, he says, is at stake, and in the Latin world, pride is no small thing. But Chavez was admitting several years ago that he was feeling aches and pains after a
long career. He has had 105 fights (101 victories, 84 of them by KO, against the losses to
De La Hoya and Frankie Randall and two draws, with Pernell Whitaker, in a previous
welterweight title challenge, and with Gonzalez). He won his first championship 14 years
ago almost to the day of the De La Hoya rematch. Can he pull it all together for one last, monumental effort? There seems no doubt he
will give it a great try. But De La Hoya, who has won 28 consecutive fights - 23 inside
the distance - after Olympic gold medal glory, is going to be too much for him. De La Hoya, who will be making the fifth defence of the welterweight title he won by
outpointing Pernell Whitaker in April 1997, says he feels he is finally growing into the
147lbs (10st 7lbs) division, that he is stronger than ever and is punching harder after a
six-month layoff to allow ligament damage in his left wrist time to heal. The loving and supportive father of a baby son (though unmarried) he is the undisputed
No.1 attraction in the business outside the heavyweight division. That he is not meeting
dangerous fellow-champions Felix Trinidad and Ike Quartey is, he says, no fault of his.
"They have been offered the fight but have promotional entanglements," he says. Mexico's Jose Luis Lopez would be a formidable challenger, but Bob Arum's matchmaker,
Bruce Trampler, says that while Lopez is worthy he is the least-known and least-marketable
of future opponents being discussed for De La Hoya for dates in November and February. The
short list includes veterans Oba Carr and Frankie Randall and possibly Yory Boy Campas,
the International Boxing Federation junior middle champ, if the Mexican agrees to come
down in weight. Campas, meanwhile, gets high-visibility exposure with a title defence
against veteran New Yorker Larry Barnes on the 18 September show. "We'll ask Oscar who he wants to fight [after Chavez] and try to do it," Trampler said.
"The Oscar train has to keep rolling." And on 18 September, the train figures to roll right over Chavez. The atmosphere will be crackling with tension, and the emotional support of the crowd
will almost certainly be with the older man. But once the fight starts, those who hope
that Chavez can somehow reach back to recapture the power, precision and sustained
pressure of the past are likely to be quickly and sadly disappointed. Chavez still has those heavy hands, he still has skills, but these days he has to pace
himself - to fight in spurts, as they say. He is easier to hit, as his reactions have
become slower, and he cuts and swells up in a way that never used to happen. As soon as De
La Hoya starts to hit him with those stiff jabs, hooks and uppercuts, the tissue around
Chavez's eyes is likely to start to give way. It would be no great surprise to see Chavez
cut early again, to have another bloody, brief fight. It is possible that Chavez might be able to land more punches than he did last time,
but if he tries to attack he is likely to pay a high price as De La Hoya seeks to rip him
with uppercuts. And if Chavez tries to counter, if he stays outside, he will be on the end
of De La Hoya's jab, which is definitely not where the veteran wants to be. The odds on De La Hoya opened at 8-1 and by time of writing had gone up to 10-1 on.
Only the most unrealistic, heart-over-head observers, surely, will be giving Chavez any
sort of chance. But Chavez is Chavez, and the memory of what he used to be is why this
fight will almost certainly be a blockbuster financial success. De La Hoya in five seems the likely outcome. And perhaps, this time, Chavez will
acknowledge that the younger man is not such a bad fighter after all. |
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