Julio Cesar Chavez vs Lonnie Smith

Julio Cesar Chavez retained the World Boxing Council light-welterweight championship by outpointing Lonnie Smith over 12 rounds at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The verdict was unanimous and unusually wide. Harry Gibbs scored the contest 118–106, Dave Moretti 119–107 and Tamotsu Tomihara 118–109. Carlos Padilla was the referee. There were no knockdowns, although Smith lost a point for deliberately driving a knee into the champion during a clinch. Both men weighed 140lb.

Approximately 8,000 spectators attended, many expecting another methodical display from Chavez, who was then regarded as the leading boxer in the world regardless of weight. The Mexican entered with an official record of 75 victories without defeat, while Smith, a former holder of the same championship, was listed at 29–2–1. Smith had won the title by stopping the previously unbeaten Billy Costello in 1985, but lost it to Rene Arredondo in his first defence. He began against Chavez as a nine-to-one outsider and received a purse of $100,000 against the champion’s $750,000.

Smith spoke confidently during the week and got into an angry confrontation with Chavez when the champion arrived in Las Vegas. Once the bell sounded, however, his principal concern was distance. He moved rapidly to his left, changed direction whenever Chavez approached and attempted to bring the right hand across as the champion followed. Chavez did not hurry. He advanced behind a high guard, used small steps to reduce the available space and directed his first serious punches towards the ribs.

The challenger’s movement kept him clear during parts of the opening rounds, but it required considerable effort and produced little scoring work of his own. Chavez remained balanced as he pursued, seldom crossing his feet and rarely reaching with a single blow. When Smith paused near the ropes, the champion struck with hooks to the body and short rights to the head. Smith would clinch, push away and resume his circling, obliging Chavez to begin the chase again.

By the fourth round, Smith was breathing heavily. He remained quick enough to escape prolonged exchanges, but his legs no longer carried him out of danger with the same ease. Chavez began finding him with greater regularity, particularly with the right hand over the jab and the left hook beneath the elbow. In the fifth, he landed a succession of rights to the head. Smith, frustrated while being held at close quarters, raised a knee into Chavez’s groin. Padilla immediately penalised the challenger one point. The foul did nothing to alter his tactics or improve his position.

Chavez controlled the middle rounds through steady pressure rather than an all-out assault. His best work came when he drove Smith towards a corner and switched his attack between head and body. The champion’s combinations were short and accurate, while Smith’s replies usually consisted of one hurried right hand before another retreat. On several occasions Smith appeared close to being overwhelmed, but Chavez checked his advance when the challenger planted his feet and swung the right with force. Chavez later said that a tender ankle had troubled him, although there was little visible evidence of lameness as he continued to follow Smith around the ring.

Smith enjoyed his most useful period in the ninth. Chavez reduced his output, and the challenger landed several right hands while moving away. Smith’s speed and occasional power remained sufficient to discourage careless pursuit, but he was too far behind to profit greatly from one better round. A countering right caught Chavez cleanly on the chin in the tenth, producing Smith’s last serious moment of success. The champion accepted the blow without difficulty and promptly resumed his attack, returning to the body before bringing the right upstairs.

The pace declined during the final two rounds. Smith’s legs were tiring, and his punches had lost much of their speed, but he continued moving rather than standing with Chavez. The champion pressed him towards the ropes, landed in bursts and then guarded against the desperate counter. In the 12th, Smith fell while retreating. Padilla correctly ruled that no punch had caused it, although the challenger’s difficulty in getting back to his feet showed how much strength he had spent avoiding the champion.

The decision required no discussion. Gibbs gave Smith only one round before accounting for the point deduction, Moretti found even less in the challenger’s favour, and Tomihara’s card was the most generous of the three. Chavez had dictated the position and manner of the contest throughout, landing the cleaner punches while compelling Smith to fight almost entirely in retreat. The champion complained afterwards that Smith had come chiefly to survive, and even the challenger’s manager expressed dissatisfaction with the performance.

The victory was Chavez’s sixth defence of the WBC light-welterweight championship and his 20th success in a world-title contest. It lacked the severity of his victories over Edwin Rosario or Roger Mayweather and offered none of the uncertainty of his match with Meldrick Taylor. Smith’s mobility and caution prevented a stoppage, but they could not make the fight competitive. Chavez left with his title and unbeaten record intact; Smith completed the distance, though at the cost of surrendering nearly every round.

I expected more from Lonnie Smith. He had won this title previously, stopping the unbeaten Billy Costello before losing his belt to Rene Arredondo, and he talked confidently before meeting Chavez. Once the fight started, most of that confidence disappeared. Smith moved constantly but achieved very little with it.

There is a difference between boxing on the back foot and merely retreating. Smith followed no pattern with his jab, rarely changed direction behind a punch and kept surrendering ground. Chavez was too smart to chase recklessly. He edged forward in small steps, blocked the exits and worked the ribs whenever Smith paused.

Smith still carried enough speed and power to land occasional right hands, which made Chavez slightly more cautious than usual. But the champion was always in control. Smith became frustrated enough to use his knee during a clinch and deserved the point deduction.

I had Chavez winning virtually everything, so the wide scorecards were correct. It was not one of his great performances because Smith would not engage long enough to allow one. Chavez supplied the pressure, accuracy and ambition; Smith supplied movement without purpose. For a former champion receiving another chance at the belt, that was a poor effort.