Sergio Martinez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
In the weeks leading up to this mega-fight there was no love loss between Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Both fighters were hungry and had something to prove; Sergio that he was the best middleweight in the world and deserving of the belts, and Julio that he was more than just Jr. to his famous fighting father. Both fighters engaged in pre fight banter with Sergio telling anyone who would listen that he would end Julio Jr.'s career, and Julio saying he was to big and strong to be beat. Fans desperatley waited for September 15th to find out who truely was the best middleweight boxer in the world. And on that night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, NV a record crowd of almost 20,000 people found out just that.
The fight started off in normal fashion with each boxer feeling out the opposition. But very early in the fight Sergio Martinez decided that he had no respect for anything Chavez Jr. could do to him and went to work. It was a typical Martinez fight, hands down at his sides and some of the best footwork in boxing. It appeared that Chavez Jr. was just to big and slow to mount any kind of offense against the lightning quick Martinez, and Sergio took full advantage. He continued to pound away at Chavez Jr. with a barrage of jabs and quick uppercuts, all the while dancing in and out before Chavez Jr. could do any damage in return. In fact for the first couple rounds Chavez Jr. barley through any punches at all. For most of the fight the action was slow and the fight somewhat of a snooze with Martinez dominating at will. Around the 8th round Chavez Jr. began to pick up his offense and land on Martinez slightly marking his face but the damage didn't amount to anything significant as Martinez still proved to fast for the massive middleweight Chavez Jr. Then came what will be one of the best rounds in the history of boxing.
It was the 12th and final round before Chavez Jr. landed anything that did any real damage. Chavez Jr. finally got Martinez up against the ropes and managed to unleash a vicious left hook that landed perfectly on the chin. Martinez went stumbling back and would have fallen right out of the ring if it wasn't for the ropes. Just as fast as Chavez Jr. landed that perfect left hook to the chin he unleashed another that again landed perfectly on the chin, this time sending Martinez flying to the canvass. Sensing that he had Martinez hurt Chavez Jr. pounced all over him throwing hard and often. The scene was very reminiscent of the fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and Meldrick Taylor which took place 22 years ago and is still one of the most controversial stoppages in boxing history. Chavez Sr. loosing badly on points unleashed a massive attack against Taylor in the 12th round that caused the referee to stop the fight with two seconds left, making Chavez Sr. the winner. Chavez Jr. was working hard to repeat history. He was pounding away to the body of Martinez looking for a KO when Martinez went down again, this time however it was ruled a push which gave Martinez about ten seconds to recover, time he desperatley needed. Despite his best efforts to end the fight early Chavez Jr. could not score the KO his father had 22 years ago. Martinez won the fight with a unanimous decision, although he was about twenty seconds away from being knocked out cold.
As boring as the first 11 rounds were the 12th more than made up for it. It will go down as one of the most exciting and nail biting rounds in boxing history. With that one round Chavez Jr. went from a man who was going to have to answer a lot of tough post-fight questions as to why he wasn't more active to a fighter who almost stole the show. Many fans might not want to see a rematch being that Martinez so easily outpointed Chavez Jr. for 11 rounds but it looks as if a rematch is what we will be blessed with. The rematch would be a completley different fight because Chavez Jr. has the confidence that he can stop Martinez at any moment, and Martinez would have to show much more respect to Chavez Jr. throughout the fight. If ever there was a reason to revert back to 15 rounds fights, this is it! Some fans might not agree but I say; BRING ON THE REMATCH.
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