Hot! Chavez and Donair Victorious In TX!

Chris Farina/Top Rank

Both Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Nonito Donair came out victorious Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas and despite the clear victories, many fans walked away with more questions than answers.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. retained the WBC middleweight title, earning a unanimous decision over fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio. The six foot middleweight never seemed to have any trouble with Rubio, landing at will and controlling the action despite weight issues and a DUI arrest less than 2 weeks before the biggest fight of his career. Learn how a DUI can affect your future and what you can do legally to get rid of the charges.

The judges would call out scores of 118-110, 116-112 115-113 all for Chavez Jr.

“I had a little problem with the weight, and in the seventh and eighth rounds, I started to feel my legs. I just need to be more careful with the weight. He wasn’t as tough as I thought he would be.” said Chavez who made weight on Friday but packed on over 20 lbs. by fight time.

The questions now seem to be: How would the “Son of a legend” fair against the elite fighters at 160… If he actually cut weight correctly and focused on training, instead of drinking and driving through the streets of L.A at 4 A.M. One thing is for sure, and Chavez Jr. said it himself in the post fight interview. If I fight like this against Sergio Martinez, I would lose. Talk after the fight seemed to lead Jr. to a clash with Antonio Margarito, not Martinez.

In the co-feature, Nonito Donair stepped up another weight division to conquer Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. by split decision after 12 rounds, claiming the vacant WBO jr featherweight title.

Donair dominated the action for most of the fight, staggering Vasquez with a leaping left hook in the third and flooring the Puerto Rican in the ninth with a left uppercut but still, wasn’t the explosive performance many expected.

Vasquez had his moments, as early as the second round, redness around Nonito’s right eye showed the damage of a snapping jab. He was also able to land numerous right hands and despite suffering a knockdown, never really seemed hurt. He actually smiled as he made it to his feet.

Judges would score the bout 115-112 for Vasquez and 117-110 twice for Donaire.

The questions come with the knockdown in my opinion. At the lower weights, Donair’s power was crippling but at 122, seems to have lost some of it’s pop. And with no real intriguing fight there, could we see him go back down to bantamweight and fight the best in the division, Abner Mares. Prior to Donair’s last two outings, many felt he would blow through Mares but with two lack luster performances against average opponents.. one has to wonder why he chose to move up and if he stays there… One thing is for sure, Mares vs. Donair is now more intriguing than Donair vs. Rigondeaux but we have to remember that it would be Top Rank (Donair) vs Golden Boy (Mares). So unfortunately it’s unlikely.

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