Julio César Chávez Jr. versus Sergio "Maravilla" Martínez for the World Middleweight Championship is going to be an epic fight that boxing fans around the world think of as a possible candidate for "The Fight of the Year". Although, the likes of Chávez Jr., is not that of a world-class caliber prize fighter; It's in the competency between both fighters that compels boxing fans like myself to wonder of what outcome will this fight end. For me personally, I think that this fight can go either ways. For every great fighter to burst out of the boxing scene, we never really recognize them as much until they have managed to reach a stepping stone in their careers as fighters.
Stepping stones could either be found in winning an Olympic Gold Medal or as grand as beating a Pound for pound fighter. These experiences have defined their character and the skills they carry into the sport of boxing. These great aspects that influence people through breathtaking displays of brilliance each time they step into the squared circle. This maybe the same thing going for the likes of Julio César Chávez Jr., who goes up against the pound for pound superstar in Sergio Martínez. It is not the first time that we've seen a non-ranked fighter to have come out of nowhere to beat someone who is rated to be one of the sports best.
Let us take Manny Pacquiao for example. Manny Pacquiao was virtually unknown internationally despite being a two-time world champion at that time when he faced Mexico's growing legend, Marco Antonio Barrera. Now, in this fight, I wouldn't have even predicted this way coming. It was unbelievable that Pacquiao would blow the roofs against one of pound for pound's best fighters in the world. I believe Pacquiao's real stepping stone into the big-time was Barrera. In this manner, I can also place Chávez Jr. in the same respect.
To me, this encounter may almost look like a deja vu. My predictions for this fight is that Sergio "Maravilla" Martínez will KO Julio César Chávez Jr. in any round. This means, that Martínez can go home with an early victory if he decides to do so. It could reach the middle rounds or even the later rounds. It really just depends on what tempo these guys are exhibiting in the early seconds of the fight. Sure, it is also possible that it could go into the judge's scorecards, but my prediction stays solid. I stand by it.
My final thoughts on this bout is that, Julio César Chávez Jr. is a great fighter, and he has a good chance to beat Martínez. I am not to judge on the several occurences that an underdog would beat a great fighter. It's natural, upsets do happen in regularity. This is the sport of boxing; anything can happen. I would have wanted Chávez Jr., to try and beat Kelly Pavlik first before facing Martínez. Despite this, who am I to judge? Freddie Roach once wanted Manny Pacquiao to beat Wayne McCollough first, before he fought against Barrera, and look how that fight turned out for him?
Again, I am just basing my predictions from credentials and statistics which provides accurate predictions following tendencies and probabilities, which we all know, is not really the case when you talk about something like boxing. Even if my blog would happen to cover the Barrera-Pacquiao fight predictions, I would have heavily favored Barrera in this aspect. Thus, from the way this fight is going, in my opinion, it only shows, that this fight is really up for grabs between both contingents. Will Chávez Jr. become his own fighter apart from his father's legendary stature, or will Martínez prove once again why he's considered pound for pound's very best? It really all comes down into who wants it more.
Picture: A poster of boxing's mega-fight between Julio César Chávez Jr. and Sergio "Maravilla" Martínez for the World Middleweight Championship, to be held at the Thomas and Mack Center University in Las Vegas, Nevada.
