Happy birthday, Chavez. I'm sure being the alchy he is that he's no doubt getting shitfaced today. In honor of his birthday, favorite Chavez performance? I'm guessing virtually everyone will say the Rosario fight.
my favorite chavez performance was when he won twice as many rounds as pernell whitaker. 2-1 with 9 even
When he turned up the heat on Andy Lee after losing the first few rounds. Oh, you are talking about the other JCC
Rosario was definitely his best performance IMO. But in terms of entertainment, I really liked his fight with Martinez.
The second time he beat Roger Mayweather. Mayweather had taken to calling himself "The Mexican Assassin" so after Chavez made him quit on his stool, he came out to the middle of the ring taunting the assassin to come out and get some more chingasos. Not his best performance but a classic.
I love the Ramirez fight. The way he changes his style subtlety, to incorporate tools better used vs a southpaw, is masterful. The short, calculated side steps to obtain lead-foot dominance were brilliant, and he set up his straight right (which he just couldn't miss with) and his left hook beautifully. He didn't just walk his man down, either. He showed he could fight off the ropes, move side to side, and just overall, fight differently to the body punching, walk-forward Mexican that he often gets painted as today. His smothering in the Rosario fight was masterful, he just took away all of Rosario's leverage and beat him up. In the Taylor fight, he knew he could take what Taylor was throwing at him, so instead of trying to avoid the guy who's hands were much, much quicker, he used a tripwire counter and wore Taylor down with it. Even vs Martinez and Lockridge, he changed up his style to make fights with more aggressive fighters easier. Then you have the walk-'em-down, Mexican daddy style, which he perfected. The bodywork was so precise, and so vicious. No so much a combination puncher, but his punch placement was exquisite. Just knowing the right couple to throw at the right one compensated for not having that innate flow that somebody like Marquez had when stringing them together. Like all good pressure fighters, he had ways of causing panic and frantic movements. Chavez's bodywork was the original causs, but eventually, he reputation preceded him and he didn't even need to land one to have them overreacting. He'd shift his weight forward and shuffle to realign himself, but he'd almost always squat, drop his hands an inch or so, and then bring him and his hands back up. The way most fighters cover up and flinch (after the Rosario fight) just from such a simple feint is actually quite funny to watch. That sort of thing is what causes mental fatigue though, which then leads to physically gassing. And as they say, boxing is the loneliest sport in the world when you're losing. Chavez's stance is built for efficiency too. Squared up, but mobile, and feet angled perfectly to start ring-cutting. Chavez and Duran are the only two fighters I've ever seen start cutting the ring off before the referee has even finished breaking up a clinch. So many layers to this ATGs game.
The skill level in the ring that night was off the charts. They were both soooooo fast and soooooo sharp. It was beautiful to watch.
I first became aware of Chavez when he fought Adrian Arreola. Adrian was a good fighter; you can boxrec him and come to other conclusions but, when he fought Chavez, he was good and on top of his game. A lot of people thought that Arreola beat Chavez, and Azabache Martinez had been on a roll. So it was considered a toss up but Chavez made it a pretty easy fight. By contrast, Azumha Nelson caught a gift in his first fight with Azabache. Over the ensuing years I saw quite a bit of Chavez, most of it being the fights that most of us have seen. Beyond that I have seen him in gyms and sparring, and in restaurants. The man had a radar for seeking out the best Mexican food in the worst neighborhoods. The search for quality Mexican food is like everything else in life; you gotta bring some to get some. I saw Chavez spar for the Gamache fight at an open workout. He looked terrible and cut the sparring short and told the people that he knew he looked like shit, but don't worry, come fight time he would be ready. Then he left and went to a Dodgers game; before the sparring he had been at a Padres game. He liked baseball. Fight night, he looks like shit and the crowd is uneasy. I was nervous that they might stab me in the parking lot because Chavez lost and I was probably the biggest Chavez fan in the arena, and one of very few white guys. As we all know, he stopped Gamache. And a brawl broke out, probably a continuation of the brawl that had started during the national anthems. In the confusion I was able to sneak down to ringside to watch Jose Luis Castillo in the walkout fight.
If they were few white guys, i guess the crowd was pro chavez, so why would they stab you if you were a big chavez fan?
