Wayne McCullough wants to see Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr step up and prove his reputation is justified.
Time for Chavez Jnr to start living up to the hype
Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr is still only 22 years old but has a lot of experience under his belt having fought 39 times as a professional.
He turned pro at the young age of 17 back in 2003.
This past weekend he fought a rematch with former opponent Matt Vanda. Back in July, Chavez won an unpopular split decision over Vanda but this time around he won unanimously with ease on scores of 99-91, 97-93 and 98-92.
The undercard was quite good with exciting Jorge Arce, a former world champion, picking up an interim super-flyweight WBC belt by defeating Isidro Garcia by knockout in an entertaining bout.
Also on the card was Nonito Donaire, who just over a year ago knocked out Vic Darchinyan. He retained his flyweight belt by defeating South African Moruti Mthalane by TKO due to a cut.
Most of the roughly 5,000 fans in the arena at the relatively empty Mandalay Bay arena in Las Vegas were Mexicans.
Cleverly the TV side of the arena was packed which probably made it look as though the venue was sold out but I personally witnessed that it wasn't.
Suckered
The 10-round fight was ridiculously sold as a pay-per-view event while on the same night Darchinyan fought on
Showtime where he was defending his unified belts.
Chavez Jnr has some talent and Vanda is a tough guy but they are not yet world-class. So are the fans getting suckered in because of his name?
He has the skills and a solid chin, but hasn't yet found that big finishing shot. Even though his record shows a lot of KO's, the opposition wasn't great.
I can understand why, early on, he didn't fight any big names because he was so young and he needed a step-by-step tutoring course to help him develop into a professional fighter.
But now I think he should fight a top contender, maybe someone in the top 20 of the junior-middleweight division, to give him a real test.
He is currently rated number eight by the WBC but his division is filled with Oscar de la Hoya, Shane Mosley, Verno Phillips, John Duddy, Cory Spinks, Vernon Forrest and other solid names.
While Chavez looked good in the fight with Vanda, I really believe the higher the competition he fights we will see a much better fighter.
His apprenticeship is over, so his next step is to take a chance.
