Maravilla Mauls Son of a Legend

by Christian Giudice
Read the article on boxing.com

One good round does not make a champion, and while Chavez always says he understands, his performances—like this one—proved otherwise…

LAS VEGAS—Saturday night at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sergio Martinez made and kept promises to the hordes of Argentineans who descended upon Sin City to cheer on their boxing hero. Conversely, on the same night, with the exception of a furious last round, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. made and kept none of his.

One of the first promises Martinez made to his countrymen was that he would not let them down. After shrugging off rust in the first two rounds of his fight for Chavez’s WBC middleweight title, Martinez returned to form and put on an awesome display of control and ring intelligence.

First, he knew that Chavez and his team probably had no Plan B, so as Martinez moved to his right, jamming a jab and a straight right into his opponent’s face at will, there was no clear retort. Although Chavez stirred nationalistic fervor as he slammed four left hooks to Martinez’s body in round two, he couldn’t capitalize then or later, which became the theme of the evening.

As the fight progressed and the numerous chants of “Mexico, Mexico” intensified, Martinez made it clear that while it might have been Mexico’s Independence Day, it would be Argentina that would bask in its glory.

From the third round on, Martinez established a pattern; every time Chavez dared to get inside (somehow he had no plan to achieve this) he ran into a sharp jab, a crunching right hook, or a beautifully timed right uppercut that made people gasp because it hit the plodding Chavez so flush.

Chavez struggled to find some remedy for his own deficiencies, but he was already gasping for air by round three. Toward the end of the third, Martinez landed two precision uppercuts, and as the bell sounded he gave Chavez a grin as if to say, “I am going to make life hell for you.”

Both fighters traded punches in the fourth. Chavez Jr. managed to breathe a little life into an otherwise dull performance as he bulled Martinez to the ropes. But Chavez was in no condition to fight eight rounds, and Martinez gave him a look which said, “Please tell me you have more to give,” a sentiment that was echoed by the legions of Mexican fans.

Chavez did jolt Martinez’s head back in the sixth round, but his punches were few and far between. Martinez was sharpshooting and busting Chavez up. Chavez’s nose started bleeding in the seventh. He was made to look amateurish in the ninth. And he was implored by Martinez to “Fight” as they closed out the tenth. It wasn’t as if Chavez didn’t want to ambush Martinez as he did Andy Lee. But since he showed little if any discipline in preparing for the bout, he couldn’t even think about, let alone execute, cutting off the ring, or throw those vicious combinations we were so used to seeing.

Instead, a mask of blood covered his bruised and discolored face as he tried and failed to adapt to Martinez’s speed. Chavez threw a multi-punch combination in the eleventh that provided some degree of hope, and landed a brilliant straight right followed by a left hook to Martinez’s neck that sent him reeling through the ropes halfway through the twelfth. Those punches initiated one of the greatest twelfth rounds in decades. Chavez fought with an intensity that he should have shown the previous eleven rounds but did not, and it was too little too late in the game to turn the tide. Martinez beat the count but suffered another knockdown before the round was over. He struggled to his feet and survived the round. The judges awarded a lopsided unanimous decision to Martinez as his fellow Argentineans began chanting “Maravilla. Maravilla, Maravilla.” He earned their adulation. Chavez, by contrast, deserved the ire of his fans.

One good round does not make a champion, and while Chavez always says he understands, his performances—like this one—proved otherwise.