Sergio Martinez vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr

Argentinian Sergio Martinez regained the WBC middleweight championship by defeating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on a unanimous decision over 12 rounds at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Martinez, the holder of The Ring championship, weighed 159 pounds and entered with a record of 49 victories, two defeats and two draws. Chavez weighed 158 pounds and was unbeaten in 47 contests. He was making the fourth defence of the WBC title he had won from Sebastian Zbik. The distinction was important because Martinez had previously held that championship before being stripped when the WBC elevated Zbik from interim to full champion. Chavez subsequently defeated Zbik, leaving Martinez to recover in the ring a title he believed had been taken from him without justification. Tony Weeks was the referee.

Chavez was 11 years younger, taller and naturally the heavier man, but he made little use of those advantages during the opening round. He advanced cautiously behind a high guard and allowed Martinez to establish the distance. The Argentine boxed with his hands low, moved continually to his right and struck with the jab from changing angles. Chavez began to work more purposefully in the second, directing hard punches towards the body, but his attacks were isolated. He followed Martinez around the ring instead of cutting off his escape, and he was too slow in bringing his feet forward after the first punch. Martinez was therefore able to score, move away and begin again before Chavez could make his physical strength count.

Martinez took firmer control in the third. His jab was quick and accurate, and the straight left followed whenever Chavez remained stationary behind his gloves. The champion continued to press but threw too little, apparently waiting for Martinez to slow down or remain within reach. That opportunity did not arrive in the fourth or fifth rounds. Martinez used lateral movement to turn Chavez, then stepped in with combinations before leaving at an angle. His activity kept Chavez occupied defensively and prevented him from setting his feet for the left hook to the body. Martinez suffered a broken left hand during the fourth round, though the injury was not apparent at ringside and did not stop him from continuing to lead with it.

Chavez made a better beginning to the sixth, reaching Martinez with punches to the head and returning to the body. For a time he appeared ready to impose the close-range contest that suited him. Martinez recovered the initiative during the final minute, striking with rapid combinations while Chavez remained covered up. The seventh followed the established pattern. Martinez controlled the range, landed first and answered whenever Chavez attempted a late rally. Chavez had occasional success in the eighth, particularly when he could hold his ground and make Martinez exchange, but these passages were too brief to alter the direction of the contest. He had the greater strength, yet his lack of sustained pressure allowed Martinez to dictate when and where most exchanges occurred.

By the ninth, Martinez’s face was showing the effects of the contest. A cut had opened over his left eye, and swelling was becoming visible, but his command of the fight remained undisturbed. He continued to beat Chavez to the punch and moved before the younger man could reply in combination. Chavez landed with greater accuracy when he did let his hands go, but his output remained insufficient. Martinez slowed slightly in the tenth, although he was still moving well enough to keep Chavez from working consistently at close quarters. The numerical difference was considerable: Martinez would finish having thrown 908 punches against Chavez’s 390. According to CompuBox figures, Martinez landed 322 and Chavez 178.

The eleventh was more evenly fought. Martinez began quickly, but Chavez enjoyed a productive spell in the middle of the round, reaching the body and head as the Argentine stood his ground. Martinez responded with combinations before the bell and finished strongly again. By then Chavez required a knockout. He had surrendered too many rounds through inactivity and had shown little of the urgency expected from a defending champion. Martinez, despite his damaged hand and marked face, appeared to have completed the difficult part of his assignment.

The final round nearly overturned everything that had preceded it. Chavez pursued with greater determination while Martinez initially kept away. When Martinez elected to exchange rather than continue moving, Chavez landed a succession of heavy punches and drove him backwards. With approximately 90 seconds remaining, Martinez was struck hard and fell to the canvas. He rose badly hurt, his legs uncertain and blood running from the cut above his eye. Chavez attacked immediately, using both hands as the crowd stood and called for the finish. Martinez tried to answer rather than hold, a risky decision that left him open to further punches. He went down again during the ensuing action, but Weeks ruled that fall a slip. Chavez continued to press until the bell, yet he could not land the final blow required. Martinez survived the only round in which he had been in danger.

The decision was beyond dispute. Dave Moretti and Adalaide Byrd each scored the contest 118-109, while Stanley Christodoulou returned 117-110, all for Martinez. The knockdown had reduced the margin but could not compensate for Chavez’s failure to compete with sufficient purpose during the first 11 rounds. Martinez retained The Ring championship and regained the WBC title, recording the 50th victory of his professional career. His performance had rested upon movement, judgment of distance and a much higher rate of work; Chavez had relied too heavily upon size and the expectation that one late attack would repair the rounds already lost.

The official attendance figures recorded 16,939 paid admissions and 751 complimentary tickets, producing a gate of $3,052,475. HBO pay-per-view carried the promotion and generated a reported 475,000 purchases. Martinez received a purse of $1.4 million, while Chavez was paid $3 million. The victory proved costly to Martinez. In addition to the broken left hand and cut requiring eight stitches, he suffered damage to his right knee during the last round and required staples for another head wound. Chavez subsequently tested positive for marijuana. The Nevada State Athletic Commission imposed a nine-month suspension, backdated to the night of the contest, and fined him $900,000. Those later matters did not affect the result: Chavez had come close to rescuing his championship in the last round, but Martinez had won the fight by controlling the first eleven rounds.

I always enjoyed watching Sergio Martinez at work. He was awkward in the right way: hands low, quick feet, sharp reactions and punches coming from angles most middleweights couldn’t read. After beating Kelly Pavlik and flattening Paul Williams, he had become the universally recognised champion in my eyes. I was glad to see him reclaim the WBC belt because he had never really lost it in the ring.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr was unbeaten, enormous at the weight and carried his father’s name, which made him a major attraction. But for eleven rounds he was poor. He followed Martinez instead of cutting off the ring and waited far too long before letting his hands go. Martinez kept turning him, beating him to the punch and making a much younger man look painfully slow.

Then came that last round. Chavez finally fought with urgency, dropped Martinez and came desperately close to rescuing a fight he had thrown away through inactivity. Martinez survived, but the damage to his right knee began a decline from which he never fully recovered. That takes some shine off the memory, but not the performance. For eleven rounds, Martinez gave Chavez a boxing lesson. The decision was unquestionable.