SAN ANTONIO – The son of legendary Mexican prizefighter Julio Cesar Chavez was at the Alamodome Thursday morning. He shared the stage with Mexican prizefighting legend Marco Antonio Barrera. He posed for pictures with famous American prizefighters Jesse James Leija and Carlos Hernandez. His name was the most recognizable, though. Even if his resume was the shortest.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. can take a big step toward finally justifying his celebrity and paychecks next month when he fights Ireland’s John Duddy in the main event of Top Rank’s “Latin Fury 15.” Chavez, who dressed in an open-collared shirt and fashionable jeans that appeared bloodstained, at Thursday’s press conference, said the right things, looked trimmer than usual, and expressed a long-overdue desire to become a great fighter.
“We are going to prove that I am ready to prove that I am ready to fight for a world title,” Chavez Jr. said from the podium.
June 26 will mark Chavez Jr.’s second match in Alamodome, his first as a headliner. And the venue has been good to La Familia Chavez.
“I am happy to be coming back to San Antonio,” Chavez Jr. said. “This is where my father set the attendance record (against Pernell Whitaker). This city has been good to us.”
Top Rank president Todd DuBoef, too, had good things to say about his company’s return to the Alamo City.
“In this show, we felt, nothing better than the Alamodome,” DuBoef said Thursday. “San Antonio is an incredible hotbed for boxing.”
ENTER FREDDIE ROACH
Chavez Jr. and his people seem to realize that John Duddy is by far the best opponent Chavez has faced in his 41-fight career of beating setup men from the Midwest. To prepare for Duddy, then, Chavez Jr. acquired the services of esteemed trainer Freddie Roach and moved his training camp to Los Angeles.
“They’ve been in L.A. the past couple of days,” DuBoef said Thursday.
Asked for an early opinion of his new trainer, Chavez Jr. didn’t wait for a translation, and even switched from Spanish to English.
“Best trainer in the world,” Chavez Jr. said of Roach.
Asked how familiar he was with John Duddy’s style, though, Chavez Jr. was a bit less emphatic.
“I know he is a fighter with a punch,” Chavez Jr. said. “He is strong. He has had many fights at middleweight.”
Next month’s fight will happen at junior middleweight, though, the lowest weight at which Duddy has ever fought. That will be six pounds lighter than Duddy was the night he decisioned Yory Boy Campas at Madison Square Garden in 2006. Chavez Jr. has yet to prove himself anywhere near Campas’ caliber. What, then, does Chavez Jr. believe he’ll have on June 26 that Campas did not?
“Campas didn’t have his youth in that fight,” Chavez Jr. said. “And I am going to be in my best form.”
Finally, Chavez Jr. listed his current weight as 175 pounds. Asked if that were a normal weight for him, one month from a fight, Chavez Jr. and his manager Fernando Beltran were both adamant.
“Better!” said Chavez Jr.
“Much better!” said Beltran.
TOP RANK’S SILENCE STILL GOLDEN
Nothing newsworthy was said Thursday of Top Rank’s negotiations with Golden Boy Promotions for a November fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“Nothing,” said Todd DuBoef, when asked what might be new.
And those rumors that DuBoef is in constant communication with Richard Schaefer to ensure the fight gets made?
“I haven’t had a conversation with him since December,” DuBoef said.
