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Andreas Hale
After failing to get successful fights with Canelo Alvarez and Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Jake Paul decided to face a former world champion when he entered the ring with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on June 28 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
After a record in boxing event in which Paul beat the former 58-year-old heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, by a unanimous decision, the YouTuber that has become a-price asked Canelo, one of the biggest names in sport.
Instead, he will have to be satisfied with one of the victims of Canelo. Chavez, 39, the former average WBC weight champion who has dealt with personal problems in recent years, including inactivity, weight gain and screening testing.
“I have just won the most mean man on the planet, and now I go against a former champion that Conman Canelo could not finish,” said Paul in a statement in ESPN on Friday.
Although Chavez has 8-6 since 2012, he always has the value of the name as the son of the Julio Cesar Chavez boxing legend and a step in competition for Paul given his boxing pedigree.
Some will moan the idea that Paul will face another former champion well out of his peak. However, this is a logical step in Paul’s boxing career, which became a pro in 2020 with a single amateur fight. While people are stuck on the name of Paul and the antics, the reality is that he does not have the experience of his contemporaries, and if he took the regular path for young boxers, he would be equaled to an opposition still less at this stage of his career.
Paul’s popularity was the Yin and Yang of his boxing career, and this puts him under a public examination whenever he announces a fight. The expectations of his fight against a “real boxer” are often illogical, since the term “real boxer” actually means an experienced fighter who would overcome him.
This is not how boxing works.
Paul’s opponents must find a delicate balance between a quality name that can sell tickets and a broader attraction, and a level of experience and / or a current capacity that corresponds to his. What ends up happening is that we get Paul against inexperienced fighters who lack skills or college fighters with a deterioration capacity. Chavez certainly falls into the latter. However, Chavez’s power was undeniable, even when his dedication to training was at the best questionable. Even if it approaches 40, Chavez can always fight and has a solid chin and has a punitive left hook. If he devotes himself to a full camp rather than collecting a check, the Mexican could be a formidable adversary who presents a feeling of constant danger and a defense good enough to prevent Paul from winning the right of involvement which has removed many of his previous opponents.
For Paul’s love, he better hopes that a motivated chavez presents himself in the ring on June 28 and gives him a fight. This may not silence all opponents, but it will help him grow as a fighter. Otherwise, and Chavez visibly presents itself out of shape, the criticism will rightly rain from all angles.
