By Lee Groves
Note: The following is the final of three book excerpts detailing fights chronicled in Lee Groves' book "Tales From the Vault." The bout profiled -- Julio Cesar Chavez's second fight with Roger Mayweather -- is the final fight in Chapter 4, which is entitled "Wars of Attrition."
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Moments after Julio Cesar Chavez blew out Roger Mayweather in two rounds on July 7, 1985 in Las Vegas, no one – even perhaps Mayweather himself – ever dreamed a rematch would ever take place. And why should they? After Mayweather won the first round on all three scorecards and staggered Chavez with a scorching right cross to the chin, Chavez stormed back and scored three smashing knockdowns to force referee Richard Steele to wave off the fight. The victory was so impressive and overwhelming that Chavez was hailed as a superstar in the making while Mayweather was written off as a spent force.
But boxing has a way of rewriting scripts and over the next four years their respective paths would eventually lead back to one another. For Chavez, he would become one of the division's most outstanding champions, repelling the likes of Dwight Pratchett (W 12), Refugio Rojas (KO 7), Rocky Lockridge (W 12), Juan LaPorte (W 12) and Danilo Cabrera (W 12) in his nearly three-year reign. Chavez then certified his emerging greatness when he wore down and stopped Edwin Rosario to capture the WBC lightweight title, then knocked out tricky southpaw Rodolfo Aguilar in six rounds. He then concluded his brief stay at 135 by adding the WBA belt on a butt-induced 11 round technical decision win over friend and former sparring partner Jose Luis Ramirez.
With a slew of non-title fights mixed in with his championship exploits, Chavez's record swelled to 60-0 with 50 knockouts and his 26-year-old body commanded him to move five pounds upward in search of more lucrative game as well as a bigger slice of history.
As for Mayweather, he knew his days as a 130-pounder were over. He blamed the Chavez loss on his struggle to make the limit and he thought a move to lightweight would reinvigorate his career. The move had mixed results. While he defeated good names like Mario Martinez (W 10), Walter Sims (W 10), Oscar Bejines (KO 7) and Sammy Fuentes (KO 9), he also suffered setbacks to Freddie Pendeton (KO by 6) and Pernell Whitaker (L 12). Following the Whitaker loss, Mayweather decided to add five more pounds to his frame and the results could be seen in his muscular back and sturdier legs. In the end, those pounds made all the difference in the world and from it spawned a new life – and a new reputation.
Following victories over Frankie Davis and Mitchell Julien, Mayweather challenged Rene Arrendondo for the WBC super lightweight belt. "The Black Mamba" was motivated and sharp, and six rounds later he became the first former 130-pound champion to skip past lightweight and capture a 140-pound title. The knockout also spawned a new sobriquet: "The Mexican Assassin."
Starting with his win over Martinez, Mayweather would face and beat six successive Mexican opponents, the last five by knockout. Numbers five and six were a pair of title defenses against Mauricio Aceves (KO 3) and former lightweight sensation Rodolfo "Gato" Gonzalez (KO 12), and stuffed between them was a scintillating defense against perennial contender Harold Brazier (W 12). Following an impressive high-profile decision over Vinny Pazienza, the 28-year-old Mayweather was ready for a big money challenge, and that challenge came in the form of a old adversary – Chavez.
The fight was set for May 13, 1989 at the Forum in Inglewood, and the setting could not have been more perfect: "The Mexican Assassin" crossing swords with perhaps the greatest Mexican fighter of all before a rabid audience bent on vengeance. One was looking to make history while the other was seeking to make a point – that their first fight was a direct result of an enforced 13-pound weight loss in the weeks before the bout, not because of a superiority in skills.
The confluence of circumstances pointed toward a difficult fight for Chavez. The challenger was in the midst of a 195-day layoff, the longest of his career, and that hiatus was filled with distractions. He had financial hassles with promoters and felt the weight of expectations from media and a growing fan base that was poised to see him become the first Mexican to become a three-division champion. While in Los Angeles, Chavez hustled from neighborhood to neighborhood to build up the fight and nurture his image for the future.
Meanwhile, Mayweather was singularly focused on the task before him. The champion spent several weeks at manager Billy Baxter's 30-acre estate in Augusta, Georgia to get away from the distractions of his adopted hometown Las Vegas. It was the first training camp of his pro career, and the combination of added weight and the chance for revenge fueled Mayweather's hopes to reach peak form on fight night.
The weigh in produced two minor surprises. The first was that the naturally smaller Chavez made the 140-pound limit with no room to spare and the second was that Mayweather scaled a svelte 138 ¾.
Chavez's promotional push for "The Fury at the Forum" didn't produce a full house, but those who were there produced plenty of noise and enthusiasm. They chanted "Mexico!" for Chavez (60-0, 50 KO) and put forth good-natured boos when Mayweather (34-5, 23 KO) entered the ring wearing a black sombrero. As HBO blow-by-blow man Jim Lampley noted, Mayweather and the Mexican fans had a strange relationship: Although they boo him, they don't dislike him personally. They respected his skills and talent despite his penchant for beating their favorites.
Even though the 5-7 ½ Mayweather stood one-half inch taller than Chavez, his 73 ½ inch reach was a full seven inches longer – and he fully intended to use it.
The fight began with Mayweather working the jab and moving side to side while Chavez stalked steadily. Mayweather pulled away from a wide hook and snapped in a double jab. Chavez then connected with a light right over the top but Mayweather again trumped him with a double jab-right hand combo. As Mayweather dug in a pair of hooks to the ribs and a jab snapped back Chavez's head, the champion couldn't have conjured a better beginning.
Mayweather's tactics were readily apparent: He knew Chavez needed several rounds to get warmed up, and by staying on the move and utilizing his reach advantage he was able to take advantage of every opening Chavez's lunges produced while still remaining respectful of the Mexican's power. Instead of the quick-striking Black Mamba, Chavez saw an intelligent, tactical boxer-puncher. And what Mayweather saw was an inactive pursuer as the challenger unleashed just 31 blows in the opening round.
Mayweather worked steadily behind the jab in round two as Chavez started to pursue more purposefully. With a little more than a minute gone in the round, Chavez hit pay dirt as a solid hook buckled Mayweather's legs and had him reaching out for the top rope with his right glove. But the champion steadied himself and used his shoulders, elbows and upper body movement to blunt most of Chavez's follow-up assault. Mayweather even fake-wobbled all the way across the ring to further convince Chavez that the moment had passed and drove home the point moments later with a forceful counter right over the jab.
By firing back, Mayweather had surmounted his first critical physical and psychological hurdle. In their first fight, "The Black Mamba" dominated the opening round only to crumble under Chavez's first serious blows. Now, not only had he survived, he began to thrive as he connected with a sizzling jab-cross-hook combo and closed the round with a right that caught Chavez barreling in.
Referee Hank Elespuru was offended by one portion of Mayweather's tactical success – whenever Chavez got close enough to inflict damage, Mayweather clamped down on his opponent's arms and waited for the referee to break them. He issued warnings throughout the round, and as Mayweather walked toward his corner following the second, Elespuru issued a hard warning for holding.
In the opening seconds of the third, the pair fell into another clinch and as Chavez registered his frustration, Elespuru again cautioned Mayweather. Freed from the champion's long arms, Chavez leaped in with a hard, direct left to the chin that snapped Mayweather's head and followed with a series of accurate jabs. Chavez began to close the distance with his upper body movement, and one series of weaving tactics set up a solid hook to Mayweather's notorious chin.
Somewhat surprisingly, the jaw held up well and better yet for his fans, Mayweather fired back with gusto. One hook that landed slightly low brought a hard warning from Elespuru and a sweeping hook by Chavez brought loud cheers. Mayweather swiftly drove in a hook to the ribs and a right to the chin. By the end of the round, it was evident that Mayweather was determined to answer every Chavez assault with one of his own – and that victory wouldn't be easily earned by either man.
However, the road to victory for Mayweather was made more difficult when Elespuru informed Mayweather and corner man Jesse Reid that he had taken a point for the slightly low left that drew the warning but no formal announcement to the crowd or the judges.
With a measure of momentum in hand, Chavez revved up his pursuit in the fourth while Mayweather continued to keep his distance. After one clinch, Mayweather earned another warning for pushing off and Mayweather responded with a hard jab-cross-right uppercut salvo. Chavez then staggered the champ with a sweeping overhand right, but Mayweather struck back with another three-punch flurry.
Chavez now chased after the champion, leaping in with every punch as Mayweather landed several on-the-move jabs. When they clinched on the ropes, a frustrated Chavez blatantly raked Mayweather's face with the laces of his left glove, but instead of warning Chavez, Elespuru told Mayweather to quit holding.
If the message wasn't already clear to Team Mayweather, this incident graphically painted the picture: To leave the ring with the belt, they must not only get past Chavez, they also had to fend off the referee. A legal hook to the body by Mayweather prompted Elespuru to shout "low blow again!"
Emotions now were running high and the crowd was frenzied as the two boxers exchanged with relish. At one point Mayweather stepped back and yelled at Chavez, who shouted right back before the "Black Mamba" just missed with a goodnight right cross.
The rising tempers continued after the bell; Mayweather clamped down on Chavez's left glove as Elespuru stepped in to separate them and as Chavez expressed his exasperation, the referee forcefully separated the pair. Meanwhile, Reid leaped into the ring to make sure both fighters stayed separated.
Chavez's chief second Cristobal Rosas, knowing his man fought best with a quiet mind, sought to reassure his charge.
"Don't yell," he said through HBO interpreter Ruben Castillo. "Don't get upset. Just keep fighting your fight so you won't get tired."
In the other corner, Reid and Elespuru were engaged in an argument, perhaps about the third-round point deduction.
"He hit him low!" argued Elespuru.
"Yeah, but (Chavez) hit him in that round low," Reid yelled back.
"That doesn't make any difference," the referee replied. Then he told Mayweather, "quit your holding, all right?"
"Watch the low blows," Reid ordered.
Because of the dispute, Reid was late getting out of the corner to begin round five. Chavez started strongly, digging hard to the body while Mayweather's jabs carried a bit less snap. Mayweather cranked a low hook, but as Elespuru delivered yet another warning to the champion, Chavez nailed Mayweather with a jab and a low right to the body, which brought nary a word from the referee.
For the first time in the fight, Chavez began to resemble his best self. His unrelenting pressure and pinpoint hammers to the head and body started to have a visible effect on Mayweather. The champion spent longer stretches seeking out any rest he could get, which wasn't much. The fight's momentum, which was clearly Mayweather's at the start, was turning toward Chavez.
Reid, ever the astute second, immediately recognized this and tried to verbally turn the tide.
"What's happening is that what makes it look bad for the judges..." Reid began. But he stopped when it appeared Mayweather was more interested in drinking water than listening to him. Seeing this, he set his fighter's mind back on track. "...now listen to me, I'm trying to give you some good advice and I'm on your side...this is the man we want to win...when you're in the clinches with him and you're not throwing, he's winning points, even if he's missing you. He's trying to come over the top. You've got to start flurrying your punches like you did in the end. They don't have to be hard but you've got to start moving your hands inside." Moments later, Elespuru again warned Reid for departing the corner late.
As the bell rang for the sixth, Mayweather began to put what Reid said into practice as he moved with more fluidity and his jabs carried more power. But Chavez, freed from his early-round shackles, let his hands go and reached Mayweather with a right over the top. A right from Mayweather prompted Chavez to wiggle his hips, an unusual show of bravado that indicated the punch bothered him. Chavez quickly regained himself by looping in a right and driving him to the ropes with a follow-up right-hook combo. The fast pace began to tell on both men, though Mayweather seemed more affected by it as he initiated more clinches and his body appeared more flaccid. The crowd sensed Mayweather’s predicament, and their chants of "Mexico!" projected their growing confidence that everything would be all right.
Chavez continued to apply the pressure in the seventh, driving Mayweather to a corner and belaboring him with lefts. The Mexican icon was more active as he pushed, pulled, bullied and asserted his will through the accumulation of punishment. Chavez also meshed in his underrated defensive skills, making Mayweather miss and making him pay with beautifully timed counters. While Mayweather did his best to hold his own, the battle was now being waged on Chavez’s turf – a place where no man had yet bested him.
The heavy inside action again escalated tensions that manifested themselves after the seventh round bell. Chavez had Mayweather trapped in his own corner when he landed a late blow. Mayweather responded angrily and seeing this, Reid stormed into the ring, lowered his shoulder, grabbed Chavez around the waist and bulled him toward the middle of the ring as Elespuru held Mayweather. When Reid returned to the corner, someone in the crowd hurled a bag of ice toward him and more debris was thrown his way as Reid directed his fighter to punch and move.
Moments before the eighth round bell, Elespuru told Reid "you’re out of the corner." He had seen enough of Reid, who had now twice charged into the ring to break up after-the-bell scuffles. The round began with paper cups, ice and other debris in the ring and, without his chief second in the corner, Mayweather appeared dispirited. Still "The Black Mamba" was a professional with a title on the line and he did the best he could under the circumstances.
Chavez, however, was fired up and poised to inflict serious damage. His punches carried more fury and soon he opened up a dangerous cut on the champion’s left eyelid. With blood running into the eye, Mayweather reached down and cranked up several of the best rights he could throw. Despite three direct hits, Chavez merely stared back and beckoned him in. At this, Mayweather grabbed his trunks, hitched them down a notch, took a deep breath and yelled something. HBO analyst Larry Merchant surmised it to be something like "damn, you can take a punch!" But those howitzer-like rights did inflict damage, as Mayweather reopened an old cut near the bridge of Chavez’s nose.
After trying to rattle Chavez physically, he tried to do the same mentally as he fired three hooks and a right off a mini-Ali Shuffle. Moments later, Elespuru stopped the action to have the ringside physician examine Mayweather’s cut. The champion was sprayed with liquid from the volatile crowd as the doctor conducted his inspection, which concluded with allowing the fight to continue.
Knowing the fight was in danger of being stopped – and soon – Mayweather gunned in hard, energetic blows, but Chavez, discerning the champion’s distress, fired right back. A huge right slammed against Chavez’s jaw, but the Mexican walked right through it and continued to fight through the bell. A split second after the gong, Chavez landed a hook and Mayweather a small right. But here, temperatures were cooled considerably as Chavez waved his glove in apology and Mayweather stepped past Elespuru and hugged Chavez around the neck before walking to his corner.
With Reid gone, veteran second Miguel Diaz delivered instructions while the equally capable Eddie Aliano worked on the eyelid. But there was little they could say to help counteract the raging Chavez, who was fighting with the same verve and steely resolve he had during the late stages of the Rosario fight. Throughout the ninth and 10th, Chavez connected with withering, strength sapping accuracy. Ever the proud champion, Mayweather tried to retaliate but his tactics required more sustained energy than he had left.
In the end, Chavez’s brutal mastery of boxing’s physics and mathematics left Mayweather slumped in his corner between rounds 10 and 11. Seeing this, Elespuru approached Mayweather and asked, "do you want to quit?" Mayweather then hung his head, and his silent message told the referee everything he needed to know. The fight was waved off and for Chavez, history was his.
Chavez banged on his protective cup with both gloves as he was paraded around the ring, telling the world that this victory was produced by his valor more than anything else.
"It was a tough fight because it was not my night," Chavez said through Castillo. "Mayweather is a great champion and a great fighter and the fight was pretty even until now. I was psychologically defeated and down for this fight. All of my training was not concentrated on this fight. I had many, many, many problems psychologically. I didn’t give even 50 percent. I promise that next fight, you will see the Julio Cesar Chavez of before."
A few minutes later, Mayweather would talk about his own physical problems.
"I got a bad cramp around the sixth or seventh round," he said. "They kept telling me to fight inside but I wanted to use my legs a little bit because I know I could out-point him from the outside. He’s really easy to hit, but he has a tremendous chin. (I got the cramps) because I had too many liquids today. I came in really light for the fight."
When asked whether he was satisfied by his performance, he replied "I’m not satisfied because I’m not a quitter. But I hit him with some tremendous shots that would have knocked out any other 140-pounder. He’s not that great a puncher, he just wears you down. A guy like Meldrick Taylor will give him a lot of trouble."
Then, with a wry smile, he concluded by saying "he stopped the reign of ‘The Mexican Assassin,’ but I’ll be back."
Epilogue: Mayweather was both right and wrong. Yes, he would be back as he fought 32 more times over the next decade, winning 25 and scoring 12 knockouts. His best wins came against Terrence Alli (W 10), Livingstone Bramble (DQ 5), Carl Griffith (W 10), Rod Sequenan (W 10), Patrick Byrd (W 10), Mike Mungin (W 10) and Carlos Miranda (KO 12). The Miranda victory came on a homecoming pay-per-view card that also featured his brother Jeff and a nephew who was destined for greatness – Floyd Mayweather Jr.
But he never wore another major world crown, though he made two attempts. On December 7, 1991 Rafael Pineda broke open a tensely fought match with a single blow in the ninth and captured the vacant IBF junior welterweight title. His second try came on June 25, 1995 against IBF king Kostya Tszyu in Newcastle, Australia, where the crafty Mayweather managed to last the distance before dropping a wide decision. Mayweather's final fight took place May 8, 1999 in Reno, Nevada, where the 38-year-old "Black Mamba" won a 10 round majority decision from Juan Francisco Mendez. Mayweather's final record is 59-13 with 35 KO.
Over the next 16 years, Chavez would become the greatest fighter Mexico has ever produced and arguably one of the top boxers pound-for-pound who ever lived. The Mayweather victory began a more than four-year reign that saw him amass 11 defenses and run his undefeated record to an incredible 87-0. The most famous – and most infamous – of those victories came against IBF champ Meldrick Taylor in a title unification showdown March 17, 1990. Entering the final round, Chavez was behind on two of the three scorecards when he scored a knockdown in the bout's final moments. Taylor regained his feet but because trainer Lou Duva’s arrival distracted him, he didn't answer Steele when he twice asked, "are you OK?" The bout was stopped with just two seconds on the clock, igniting a firestorm that will forever rage in boxing lore.
Still, "J.C. Superstar" was the unquestioned best pound-for-pound boxer for several years, but that reign ended when he challenged WBC welterweight champion Pernell Whitaker September 10, 1993 in San Antonio. Though Whitaker appeared an easy winner, the bout was declared a draw. Chavez's unbeaten streak three fights later when Frankie Randall out-boxed and dropped the iron-jawed Mexican en route to a split decision victory.
Chavez regained the title in controversial fashion four months later when he won a butt-induced eight round technical decision and would defend his new title four more times before losing it on cuts in four rounds to Oscar de la Hoya on June 7, 1996. Chavez made two more bids to regain that belt, but was held to a draw by Miguel Angel Gonzalez in March 1998 and was dropped and stopped by Tszyu in July 2000. In between was a grudge rematch with De La Hoya for the WBC welterweight title, and after putting up a sterling battle he retired on the stool after eight rounds due to a severe cut inside the mouth.
Following a two-round KO over Terry Thomas, Chavez took a two-year hiatus. He then launched a multi-fight "farewell tour" in November 2003 that saw him avenge a previous loss to Willy Wise (KO 2), settle a score with Randall (W 10) and post a decision victory over Ivan Robinson (W 10). Chavez's final fight came in Phoenix, Arizona on September 17, 2005 when the 43-year-old retired on the stool after five rounds with Grover Wiley. Chavez's final record stands at 107-6-2 with 86 knockouts.
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To purchase Lee Groves' book "Tales From the Vault: A Celebration of 100 Boxing Closet Classics," visit the following links:
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Vault-Celebration-Boxing-Classics/dp/1449965601
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