When fights fans think of great Mexican fighters names like Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, and Julio Cesar Chavez come to mind. Mexico has a long and storied history in the sport of boxing and to this day supports one of the most rabid fan bases in the entire sport. Big time boxing fans are well aware of Mexican fighter's reputations, they love to fight and they fight hard. You are usually in for a great fight and they always leave it in the ring, almost sensing the expectations fans from their home country put on them. As Juan Manuel Marquez loves to say "I will leave my Mexican blood in the ring." Attitudes like that are what brings so many fans Mexican, or otherwise to pack the arena when these guys fight.
Now with Julio Cesar Chavez retired for 7 years and Marquez as well as Morales seemingly towards the end of their illustrious careers, boxing fans look towards a new crop of great young Mexican fighters. Luckily for the fans they didn't have to look hard to find stars. Two men have started to emerged from the shadows of these great fighters and one from the shadow of his own father. These two men are Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. If you were to look at the numbers on paper both fighters would look very similar. However in the eyes of the fans, especially American ones, they couldn't be more different.
Canelo Alvarez as he is more commonly known holds a record of 41-0-1 with a strong 30 knockouts. Alvarez is a good looking kid who at first sight would seem more Irish than Mexican. This is due to his red colored hair and freckles, thus lending to his nickname 'Canelo' which is spanish for cinnamon. While he has had a strong Mexican following for some time now, American fans really started to take notice of the young phenom on the Mayweather/Mosley undercard when he fought Jose Miguel Cotto, older brother of superstar Miguel Cotto. Since then Alvarez has fought nine times, some of those bouts coming against legit fighters: Carlos Baldomir, Ryan Rhodes, Alfonso Gomez, Kermit Cintron, and Shane Mosley. And his most recent win against a severely outmatched Josesito Lopez. What Alvarez has failed to do however is to take the next step up in competition. With names such as Cotto, Lara, and Mayweather in his junior middleweight division, Alavarez has instead fought fadeing fighters, or guys who proposed little threat to him in the ring. Despite all of this Alvarez still seems to be beloved by fans in Mexico and America. Unfortunatley Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has not been so lucky.
Chavez Jr. also holds a very strong record of 46-1-1 with 32 of those wins coming via knockout. Like Alvarez, Chavez Jr. is also a good looking young man who has many fans male and female alike. Although unlike Alvarez, Chavez Jr. has just as many haters as he does fans. He has battled name fighters such as: John Duddy, Sebastion Zbik, Peter Manfredo Jr, Marco Antonio Rubio, and Andy Lee. In his most recent fight which resulted in his first career loss Chavez Jr. fought #2 ranked p4p fighter Sergio Martinez. If you put their last ten opponents side by side and compare them it would be extremley close. For my money though I would say Chavez Jr. has fought the stronger boxers in their current form. Despite that, people still love to hate him. Most fans when asked why they dislike Chavez Jr. say it's because he had a chamionship belt but hadn't yet fought any legit big name fighters. But looking at his opponents we see this simply isn't true. And if it is true then the same could be said for the fighters Canelo Alvarez is taking on, yet Alvarez doesn't face nearly as much criticism as his fellow Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. So what is the real reason Chavez Jr. has so many haters and Alvarez has almost none?
There seems to be only two good answers to that question. The first being that fans think Chavez Jr. has been handed fights and a belt based on his famous father's name. Even though Chavez Jr. has tried to step out of the shadow of his father, chances are he never fully will. That isn't saying Chavez Jr. won't be great, however his father is without question Mexico's all-time greatest boxer casting a massive shadow that would be almost impossible for anyone to avoid. The second would be that fans just don't respect Chavez Jr. for what they view as a lack of respect he shows for the sport. Any big time boxing fan who watched HBO's always entertaining 24/7 saw Chavez Jr. blowing off workouts at the gym with Freddie Roach, instead spending his time swimming in his pool or doing mitt work in his living room. It also hasn't helped his case that two weeks before his title defense against Marco Antonio Rubio he was arrested for drunk driving. Then after his bout with Sergio Martinez, Chavez Jr. tested positive for marijuana. Both of these incidents have painted Chavez Jr. in a very negative light, especially in the eyes of the fans.
These two warriors of the ring are very similar. But in the eyes of fans, couldn't be further apart. Only the future will tell how these fighters are ultimatley viewed. Will either become all-time Mexican greats? Maybe. Maybe not. Alvarez seems to be the harder worker which is why so many fans, especially those of whom reside in America have backed him so strongly. While Chavez Jr. is still hugely popular in Mexico, that popularity hasn't fully translated to America. The one thing that needs to be stated is that we can no longer trash Chavez Jr. for not fighting elite opposition unless we are prepared to do the same to Alvarez who seems to covertly fly under the radar of criticism. Both fighters have bright futures in the sport, which one will reach greater heights is yet to be seen. If I were a betting man though I would bank on Chavez Jr. becoming more disciplined and surpassing Alvarez as the better fighter and as Mexico's favorite son.
Now with Julio Cesar Chavez retired for 7 years and Marquez as well as Morales seemingly towards the end of their illustrious careers, boxing fans look towards a new crop of great young Mexican fighters. Luckily for the fans they didn't have to look hard to find stars. Two men have started to emerged from the shadows of these great fighters and one from the shadow of his own father. These two men are Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. If you were to look at the numbers on paper both fighters would look very similar. However in the eyes of the fans, especially American ones, they couldn't be more different.
Canelo Alvarez as he is more commonly known holds a record of 41-0-1 with a strong 30 knockouts. Alvarez is a good looking kid who at first sight would seem more Irish than Mexican. This is due to his red colored hair and freckles, thus lending to his nickname 'Canelo' which is spanish for cinnamon. While he has had a strong Mexican following for some time now, American fans really started to take notice of the young phenom on the Mayweather/Mosley undercard when he fought Jose Miguel Cotto, older brother of superstar Miguel Cotto. Since then Alvarez has fought nine times, some of those bouts coming against legit fighters: Carlos Baldomir, Ryan Rhodes, Alfonso Gomez, Kermit Cintron, and Shane Mosley. And his most recent win against a severely outmatched Josesito Lopez. What Alvarez has failed to do however is to take the next step up in competition. With names such as Cotto, Lara, and Mayweather in his junior middleweight division, Alavarez has instead fought fadeing fighters, or guys who proposed little threat to him in the ring. Despite all of this Alvarez still seems to be beloved by fans in Mexico and America. Unfortunatley Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has not been so lucky.
Chavez Jr. also holds a very strong record of 46-1-1 with 32 of those wins coming via knockout. Like Alvarez, Chavez Jr. is also a good looking young man who has many fans male and female alike. Although unlike Alvarez, Chavez Jr. has just as many haters as he does fans. He has battled name fighters such as: John Duddy, Sebastion Zbik, Peter Manfredo Jr, Marco Antonio Rubio, and Andy Lee. In his most recent fight which resulted in his first career loss Chavez Jr. fought #2 ranked p4p fighter Sergio Martinez. If you put their last ten opponents side by side and compare them it would be extremley close. For my money though I would say Chavez Jr. has fought the stronger boxers in their current form. Despite that, people still love to hate him. Most fans when asked why they dislike Chavez Jr. say it's because he had a chamionship belt but hadn't yet fought any legit big name fighters. But looking at his opponents we see this simply isn't true. And if it is true then the same could be said for the fighters Canelo Alvarez is taking on, yet Alvarez doesn't face nearly as much criticism as his fellow Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. So what is the real reason Chavez Jr. has so many haters and Alvarez has almost none?
There seems to be only two good answers to that question. The first being that fans think Chavez Jr. has been handed fights and a belt based on his famous father's name. Even though Chavez Jr. has tried to step out of the shadow of his father, chances are he never fully will. That isn't saying Chavez Jr. won't be great, however his father is without question Mexico's all-time greatest boxer casting a massive shadow that would be almost impossible for anyone to avoid. The second would be that fans just don't respect Chavez Jr. for what they view as a lack of respect he shows for the sport. Any big time boxing fan who watched HBO's always entertaining 24/7 saw Chavez Jr. blowing off workouts at the gym with Freddie Roach, instead spending his time swimming in his pool or doing mitt work in his living room. It also hasn't helped his case that two weeks before his title defense against Marco Antonio Rubio he was arrested for drunk driving. Then after his bout with Sergio Martinez, Chavez Jr. tested positive for marijuana. Both of these incidents have painted Chavez Jr. in a very negative light, especially in the eyes of the fans.
These two warriors of the ring are very similar. But in the eyes of fans, couldn't be further apart. Only the future will tell how these fighters are ultimatley viewed. Will either become all-time Mexican greats? Maybe. Maybe not. Alvarez seems to be the harder worker which is why so many fans, especially those of whom reside in America have backed him so strongly. While Chavez Jr. is still hugely popular in Mexico, that popularity hasn't fully translated to America. The one thing that needs to be stated is that we can no longer trash Chavez Jr. for not fighting elite opposition unless we are prepared to do the same to Alvarez who seems to covertly fly under the radar of criticism. Both fighters have bright futures in the sport, which one will reach greater heights is yet to be seen. If I were a betting man though I would bank on Chavez Jr. becoming more disciplined and surpassing Alvarez as the better fighter and as Mexico's favorite son.
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