by James Slater – This Saturday night in his native Mexico, on a bill that will be topped by two world title fights – WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel defending his title against Alejandro Valdez and WBO minimum weight champ Donnie Nietes meeting Manuel Vargas – 23-year-old Julio Cesar Chavez Junior will return to action after the longest layoff of his now six year pro career..
Chavez Junior, now 39-0-1(29) faces a decent enough opponent, too, in the once-beaten and never stopped Jason LeHoullier of Maine. Coming off a year long layoff himself, the 31-year-old with the 21-1-1(8) record has not boxed since losing for the first time as a pro, on points in a pretty close one to the streaking Harry Joe Yorgey. What kind of a test will “The Hammer” give the son of the legend?
Chavez Junior, has not fought since his 10-round UD win over Luciano Leonel Cuello back in March, and although six months is not an overly long time for the 154-pounder to have been out of action, it is a fair amount of time for a young and hungry fighter. Still, if anyone is affected by ring rust on Saturday night, it will likely be LeHoullier.
That aside, the older man will probably have enough on his plate against Chavez. The shorter man by a substantial margin (5’9″ to Chavez’ 6.0″), LeHollier is not a big puncher either. And Ronald Hearns’ conqueror Yorgey aside, LeHoullier has really met nobody of note. Going into the lion’s den in Mexico, how will LeHoullier cope with Chavez’ vicious body shots? Will “The Hammer” be able to fire enough power to keep Chavez off him?
It all looks like another win for the 23-year-old, and barring a big upset, a clear points win or a late stoppage should be on the cards for him. No disrespect to LeHoullier, a reasonably solid light-middleweight who has campaigned at the weight his entire career, but will Chavez finally make the move up into world class after he gets win number-40 on Saturday? After six years as a pro, isn’t it about time?
Chavez Junior is both exciting and popular, and his fans want to see just how good he is. Chavez, if he would get himself in there with the likes of Alfredo Angulo, Joel Julio and maybe even the aforementioned Yorgey (if he beats Angulo in November), would be taking a step in the right direction.