The big day has a pretty odd lineup overall.
December 1st is just weeks away. WBC heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will meet in the mega matchup to headline the night on a Showtime produced Premier Boxing Champions pay per view, the first of three PPVs PBC is looking to put on over the next couple months.
The show will have the traditional three fight undercard that US fight fans have been trained to expect over the years on premium network led PPV broadcasts. As has also become tradition, the undercard is pretty bad. It will feature awesome junior middleweight unified titleholder Jarrett Hurd testing his shoulder in what might as well be written down as a walkover in the co-main event. Luis Ortiz has an equally uncompelling fight in the middle bout while British heavyweight prospect Joe Joyce completes the slate with, you guessed it, a matchup very unlikely to be competitive.
That’s not all though. Prior to the start of the PPV, Showtime will broadcast a pretty awesome light heavyweight title bout when Adonis Stevenson takes on a real stiff test in Oleksandr Gvozdyk in Montreal. That has been known for a while, before the rest of the PPV undercard even. What was not known but rumored was that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (50-3-1, 32 KOs) would be returning on the same show. Well, it is sort of the same show anyway. The bout order will be unusual. Chavez Jr will fight undersized and long past his best brawler Alfredo Angulo (24-7, 20 KOs) at the Staples Center on the Wilder-Fury show. This means the Showtime broadcast will start in Los Angeles for Chavez Jr-Angulo, move to Montreal for Stevenson-Gvozdyk, and then come back to LA for the rest of the night. That’s kind of strange, but it’ll work fine.
As for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr himself, he hasn’t fought since his downright embarrassing non-performance against Canelo on Cinco de Mayo last year. His total non-effort as a walking punching bag certainly cemented his reputation as a bit of a punchline in the sport. That night Julio was determined only to minimize damage and put in no effort towards winning even as the bigger man. The perception of Julio that was magnified last year is that he is talentless and soft, that he is living off his father’s fame and nothing more. I don’t necessarily know how true that is given that he actually has a couple good wins on his resume like against Marco Antonio Rubio and Andy Lee though. Chavez Jr also famously almost finished Sergio Martinez in the final round of their high profile middleweight title fight. Of course, those fights were at middleweight where he had a notable size advantage every time out. Above 160 lbs the closest thing Chavez Jr has to a good win was an okay showing against Marco Reyes, looking about the same against his fellow Mexican as David Lemieux did recently.
The only real contender he fought above middleweight was Andrzej Fonfara. That fight that went horrifically for Julio and his famous last name, but that one was technically a light heavyweight bout and Fonfara was the bigger man who has since moved to cruiserweight if we are being fair. Plus, it was clear that Chavez Jr did not show up to the fight particularly ready for it. A dedicated version of the former middleweight titleholder as at least shown the ability to impose his size and strength, if nothing else.
Alfredo Angulo shouldn’t be a problem for Chavez Jr. The veteran brawler hasn’t won a fight since 2015 and only has performed well at 154 lbs in his career. He has also taken a lot of damage and will come into the ring the much smaller man. Whether or not Julio Cesar Chavez Jr can be competitive at 168 (probably not, but maybe!), Alfredo Angulo won’t be the man to give us any answers. This is designed to be a showcase and nothing more. If Chavez Jr struggles at all past the first round or two in this one, it’ll be further vindication for all his haters.
