Julio Cesar Chavez Vs Brian Vera II: BOXING BREAKDOWN & Vasyl Lomachenko Title Fight – HBO BOXING NEWS
By Geno McGahee
This Saturday, Julio Cesar Chavez, JR.., 47-1-1, 32 KO’s, steps into the ring to avenge a victory over Bryan Vera, 23-7, 14 KO’s. Although Chavez, JR., walked away with the nod by the judges, most observers felt the underdog did enough to win the fight. The disgust by the fans has led to this rematch on Saturday night and a 168 pound (on paper) Chavez JR will be in much better shape and ready to do what he should have done the first time against an motivated but probably outmatched foe.
Chavez, JR., has benefited greatly by the legacy of his father and by the corruption in the sport of boxing. It is widely speculated that he comes into fights at 190+ pounds and that there may be some trickery at the scale. When you see him fight his opponent, you can see the difference in size immediately. It looks like a cruiserweight taking on a middleweight and that’s exactly what it is.
Vera is a spoiler. That has been his role in the past and he has lived up to it, getting upset wins over Andy Lee, Sergio Mora, Sebastien Demers and Serhiy Dzinziruk. The Chavez, JR., victory would have been another feather in his cap, but he was robbed and here we go again.
Unfortunately for Vera, Chavez, JR., will be coming into this fight motivated and in shape (you would think) and that will be too much to handle. In boxing, the lesser fighters can defeat the better ones if they want it more and put in more hours in the gym, but if those factors are not there, then it won’t happen. Vera will have to be beyond his best to take this victory home, but the most likely scenario in this one is a slow and methodical beating en route to a Chavez, JR., victory. Remember, Bryan Vera was selected the first time as an easy opponent. This time, they’re not taking any chances and should dispose of him in the middle rounds.
The supporting bout is very interesting. Vasyl Lomachenko, 1-0, 1 KO, is getting a shot at the WBO featherweight title against battle-tested tough guy, Orlando Salido, 40-12-2, 28 KO’s. Lomachenko is considered one of the best amateurs to ever lace up the gloves and they have already deemed him a special fighter. His only win was over the fringe contender, Jose Ramirez (KO-4), and he looked good doing it. Taking on Salido is a different fight and it will answer some questions about this new gift to boxing.
Salido is a truth machine. He exposed the highly-regarded, Juan Manuel Lopez by knockout and then repeated it in a rematch. His last six victories were by knockout over very respectable opposition and his two defeats were to special fighters in Yuriorkis Gamboa and Mikey Garcia. Both Gamboa and Garcia dominated Salido and should Vasyl Lomachenko accomplish the same feat, then he is right in there as a challenger to either or both.
Saturday night on HBO, these two fights should bring some excitement. We may be witnessing the birth of a superstar in the opener and the continuation of the rebuild of the career of Julio Cesar Chavez, JR.