Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., who fights on HBO Saturday against Andy Lee, is an oversized figure in boxing, and that's not exclusively a pun about the giant middleweight's battle with the scales. It's about him being among the handful of the most popular boxers in North America; it's about that big name, the one his father gave him, and the big expectations that accompany it; it's about how he cleaves the boxing world in twain, from those who think he's a hype job -- overblown, they might say -- and those who believe he's unfairly maligned; it's about the drama that accompanies him outside the ring, from DUIs to steroid suspicions to the aforementioned weight problems; and it's definitely about the big action he supplies in the boxing ring with a come-forward style and willingness to mix it up.Lee knows from a few of those things himself. He, too, has supplied his share of action in the ring, as a big-punching middleweight who usually gets hit plenty back. As Chavez is a Mexican idol, Lee is the closest thing the United States has to an Irish ticket seller. And it wasn't Lee's father, but his father figure/trainer Emanuel Steward who bestowed big expectations on him, comparing Lee early on to the best fighter ever, Sugar Ray Robinson.
Whatever you think of either man's ability -- my view is that Chavez is a legit top five middleweight, with Lee somewhere on the periphery of the top 10, although some would rank Chavez lower and Lee higher -- it's highly likely this will be a vigorous donnybrook. The winner is lined up to fight true division champ Sergio Martinez, or not, depending on how much you buy into the politics behind the notion of Martinez-Chavez, for instance. Whatever comes next, this one stands nicely on its own.
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