Chavez Jr. vs Vera 2 & Salido vs. Lomachenko Recap
By Syl Peterkin, RCM Boxing Correspondent
San Antonio, TX (March 2, 2014)– Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. won a unanimous decision over Bryan (Brian) Vera. This was JCC, Jr.’s second consecutive victory over Vera following a loss to middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. The first fight between JCC, Jr. and Vera was a controversial win for Chavez. In that fight, Chavez threw 320 punches to 734 punches for Vera. In that fight however, Chavez showed up overweight (5 lbs. over the 168lbs limit at the weigh in).
In this second fight, Chavez came to the fight in shape and motivated. Chavez took the first two rounds, using his jab to maintain distance and setting up for combinations. In round three, Vera cornered Chavez and utilized hooks to pick up the round. Rounds four and five went to Chavez as he used his jabs and head swiveling to back up Vera and set up for power punches. Round six saw Chavez continue to pressure Vera, but Vera utilized the pressure to set up uppercuts and hooks to take the round.
Round seven through ten all went to Chavez by his using consistent pressure on Vera. A point was deducted from Vera for pushing down Chavez’s head in round 8. The last two rounds, 11 and 12, went to Vera who was the busier of the two fighters.
In the end Chavez threw 526 punches and landed 236 for a 49% percentage. Vera threw 961 punches but landed 205 for a 21% percentage. The judges had the fight 117-110, 117-110, and 114-113. With this win, Chavez (48-1-1) can look forward to potential fights with Champions Andre Ward, Gennady Golovkin, or even Carl Froch.
In the co-feature, Orlando Salido beat two-time Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko in a split decision. This fight saw a lot of power punches and body shots by both fighters. Salido had numerous low blows including a shot to the thigh of Lomachenko. No points were deducted from either fighter. Two judges saw the fight 116-112, and 115-113 for Salido. While a third saw the fight 115-113 for Lomachenko. Even with the victory, Salido (41-12-2, 28 KO’s) was stripped of his feather weight world title for not making weight. Vasyl Lomachenko is now 1-1 (1 KO) who secured a title fight in only his second fight as a professional boxer. The punch stats for the fight saw Salido landing 142 punches and throwing 645 punches for a 22% fight percentage, while Lomachenko throwing 441 punches and landing 164 punches for a 37% fight.
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