Julio Cesar Chavez JR

Julio Cesar Chavez JR: Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. (43-0-1) followed in his legendary father’s big footsteps tonight at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, where he won his first major world title, taking the WBC middleweight crown from Germany’s Sebastian Zbik (30-1) via a majority decision by scores of 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.

Examiner.com had the fight scored 115-113 or 7 rounds to 5 in favor of Sebastian Zbik.

The German came into the fight holding the middleweight belt which Sergio Martinez vacated, and he did not relinquish it easily, giving Chavez as good as he received for most of the evening in a surprisingly entertaining bout.

Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. simply came into the fight with the wrong game plan.  Having gained an astonishing 20 pounds since yesterday’s weigh in, Chavez outweighed Zbik 180 to 165 pounds by the time of the fight.  His plan was to use his superior height and reach to fight on the outside, but he was no match for the champion’s speed and combination punching.

As a result, he clearly lost the first four rounds of the match and dug himself a big hole.Round nine saw Sebastian Zbik reassert control with his superior speed and faster combinations to the head of Chavez.The eleventh saw a continuation of Chavez’s attack to the body.  He had Zbik literally wincing in pain and mixed in some good uppercuts on the inside to easily take the round.  By the end of the frame, Zbik appeared to have little left in his tank.

But the champion came out in the twelfth and final round landing tight, quick combinations to the head of Chavez before the challenger turned the tide and punished the champion to the body.