By Norm Frauenheim
LAS VEGAS – The sunglasses could have used a couple windshield wipers. They were that big. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. hid behind them, a little bit like a guy trying to shield himself from the sight of an imminent collision.
Chavez Jr., foresees something else, of course. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be here talking about how and why he expects to upset Canelo Alvarez Saturday in a HBO pay-per-view fight about Mexico, history, tradition, a father and a son.
“I came here to win, not just fight,’’ Chavez Jr. said before a formal news conference Wednesday.
The betting odds suggest there might be some rose-colored lenses in those glasses. Canelo was a 5-to-1 favorite late Wednesday to win the 164.5-pound bout at T-Mobile Arena
It’s impossible not to see how big a role the father and the son have in the event. This fight might not have happened at all without their name. Chavez Sr. stirs up memories and passions of a nation that identifies with his stubborn toughness. They see the son and remember the father against Meldrick Taylor, Hector Camacho and Edwin Rosario. He was a hard man, an undisputed tough guy. Next to Hugo Sanchez, a soccer star in the 1980s, there is no bigger sports name in Mexican history.
Canelo recalls meeting the famous dad when he was a 16-year-old kid in Guadalajara. Julio Sr. encouraged him to work hard. Did Canelo get his autograph?
“No,’’ Canelo said with a smile Wednesday.
Ten years later, the 26-year-old Canelo intends to get something a lot more significant. He intends to claim the Chavez legacy as a Mexican icon. He intends to put it in his name. Make it his own.
Only the son can stop him.
There’s huge pressure in that, especially for a son who exasperated his father’s fans with haphazard training, an inability to make weight and disappointing performances. For the son, the Canelo bout represents a last stand of sorts. He doesn’t think so. At least, he doesn’t during the final days before opening bell. After all, there’s pressure enough in trying to deal with Canelo’s punishing combinations.
“Both of us have a lot of pressure,’’ said Chavez Jr., who said he was at 168 pounds Wednesday.
His dad’s legacy, he said, would stand alone, no matter what happens Saturday. But it’s hard to separate the legacy from this fight. Subtract it, and you lose the drama that is inherent to a bout that has become an event. The bout at catch-weight doesn’t need a title belt. It’s got a legacy that is almost like a family heirloom for the father who created it and passed it on to his son.
“His fans, I think, are his father’s fans,’’ Canelo said during a conference call 10 days ago.
The fans were there Wednesday, chanting “Julio, Julio.’’ It was hard to tell whether the chants were for Junior or Senior. Still, there were moments at the news conference when it looked as if the father was feeling more pressure than the son.
“A very, very tough fight,’’ Julio Sr. said with unblinking eyes that flashed like flint off coal.
Maybe, he was just acting like a nervous little-league parent. But some of that old edginess was evident in the father. Throughout the formal news conference, he chewed on his lower lip. He pulled on his eyebrows as if he were about to pull them off. He looked as if he wanted to fight. Almost as if he were ready to fight.
After all, it’s his legacy, one with a fate that now rests in his son’s unproven hands.
