No one could have summed up Saturday night better than Top Rank’s Bob Arum as Vanes Martirosyan, “Mikey” Garcia and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. all remained undefeated and took big steps in their respective careers in front of a respectable crowd at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, CA. Super welterweight Martirosyan (30-0, 19KOs) of nearby Glendale, CA, struggled early but was able to stop the tough Saul Roman (34-9, 29KOs) to position himself as the #1 WBC contender to recently crowned Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and captured the WBC Silver belt while Oxnard, CA’s “Mikey” Garcia (26-0, 22KOs) cruised to a fourth round knock out of late sub Rafael “Chocho” Guzman (28-3, 20KOs) in the featherweight co-main event broadcast live by HBO in his charge towards a world title. In the main event, twenty-five year old Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (43-0-1, 30KOs) of Culiacan, MX, captured his first title and became the first Mexican-born middleweight champion when he was awarded a majority decision over Germany’s Sebastian Zbik (30-1, 10KOs) to strap on the WBC gold and green belt around his waist. Scores were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.
“It was a great night for Top Rank,” Arum said to begin the post fight press conference held in the Chick Hearn press room in the bowels of the arena. “Three young stars, Vanes Martirosyan, Mickey Garcia and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., looked spectacular. It is wonderful for me that Julio won the title in LA where his dad won the first title. It just shows the continuity of boxing.”
“The joy in the face of his father is something I will never forget,” Arum stated regarding the reaction of Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. of seeing his son win the title. “He is unbelievably proud of his son and he told me he prouder of his son than when he won his first title.”
Wearing a grey pin stripped suit and multiple bruises on his face especially around his left eye, Chavez Jr. addressed the assembled media for the first time as a world champion, “I am very happy to win the title. I promised every one that I was going to do it. The German is a strong fighter with a good defense but I think that my heart was the difference.”
“I am very excited in winning the title, this was a great learning experience,” Chavez Jr. said as his voice cracked with emotion. “This is the beginning of a new story and a new stage for me. It was very important to win the title. I hope to maintain myself as a champion for many years to come. I am ready for the big fights and I want to thank God. I hope everyone enjoyed the fight and I won the title for Mexico. I am proud to be able to continue the legend that my father began and I promise to defend this title proudly.”
With the fighter that many fans and pundits consider the linear 160 lbs. champion Sergio Martinez in attendance, Chavez Jr. opted to liven up the atmosphere with humor when asked if he would be willing to fight the Argentinean next.
“Ask Bob,” he said in english as the crowd chuckled in unison with the dais. “He’s a great champion and I have a lot of respect for him. I would be proud of fighting him and if he’s next, he’s next.”
Arum explained further why he felt that at this point a Chavez Jr.-Martinez match up was not feasible, “Sometimes what the media wants is not always the most practical. HBO pays more than anybody else but that money is still limited. For the fighters to really make money it has to be done on PPV. Martinez never has been in a PPV fight. PPV providers don’t know Martinez so they wouldn’t really sink advertising dollars. PPV providers do know Cotto who has a great track record, they know Margarito. I’m not Martinez’s promoter. His promoter should get off his ass and make him a PPV attraction.”
“I proved a lot in this fight but there is still much more to prove,” Chavez Jr. said introspectively.
The former champion Sebastian Zbik took the podium soon after and just like the media decided to ask the now seated Chavez Jr. a question, “I ask Julio if he is happy with the fight and if he is happy how he won the belt?I hit him more times and I think I made the fight. I look at the score cards and I think they are funny. I’m upset that I lost the title this way.”
“We knew that if it was close we would lose the fight but I didn’t think it was that close. I’m proud of this fight but sad I lost my title. I must accept the situation and congratulations to Julio,” he said in closing.”
Chavez Jr.’s trainer, Freddie Roach, quiet for most of the press conference did speak up gave his thoughts regarding the scoring of the bout, “I told him that he had to back him up at the end to win. There is a difference between pity patter punches. We landed the harder and more effective punches all night long.”
In the co-main event, featherweight Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia stopped the clearly over match Rafael “Chocho” Guzman who took the fight on late notice. Garcia controlled the bout from the opening bell and seemed to land at will. In the fourth, Garcia landed a hard straight right hand that dropped Guzman and he was unable to beat the count. The quick knock out marked the second time that Garcia appeared on HBO and during the post fight press conference he mentioned that although not in a rush, he was ready for a world title fight.
“I am happy with my performance, I think it was a good fight for the people,” he said. “I am excited that we won and happy to be part of such big event and to be the co-main bout. Like Bob said, I am improving and ready for an opportunity for a world title. If any champs want to give me a title shot, I’m ready.”
When asked which of the current champions he was more willing to face, Garcia made it clear that it didn’t matter and he was more than willing to face any of them and the sooner the better, “All the current champions are champs because they have what it takes to hold the title. Many of them have been champions in other division like Jhonny Gonzalez, Yuriorkis Gamboa and ‘JuanMa’ Lopez. I am ready for any of them. I fight at my pace and I make my fight. I think my style can give any of them problems because I make it my fight.”
Garcia’s brother and trainer, former champion Robert Garcia, seconded the twenty-three year old’s statements and also believes that “Mikey” is ready for the best in the division.
“Based on his last performances, Arum, his manager Cameron Dunkin and myself, we think he is ready,” the trainer said. “They are great champs out there but to be a great champ you got to beat them. We are in no rush but if HBO can give us a shot and Bob Arum can work something out, we are ready.”
Top Rank seems to have a hold of the division as they promote the biggest stars in the 126 lbs. weight class in and Bob Arum laid out what could be the plans for Garcia for the remainder of the year, “It all depends on who is available. Salido, the WBO champion is going to defend in Mexico and then has a rematch with Juan Manuel Lopez. Gamboa, I’m not sure. We will probably go for the vacant IBF title and then have a unification match. As far as Chris John, he fights in Indonesia where he makes a lot of money and he is not going to fight a ‘Mikey’ Garcia. Garcia is definitely fighting for a title this year and it could be in November or September depending if Chavez fights Cotto.”
Undefeated super welterweight Vanes Martirosyan also took time to thank his loyal Armenian following and to give his thoughts on his seventh round KO win over Saul Roman which now settles him as the next mandatory challenger for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“This was a tough fight but a great learning experience,” Martirosyan said with a bruised up face but also with a smile. “I put a lot into this fight. I feel blessed to be with Top Rank and ready for ‘Canelo’ when he steps up. I hope every thing goes good with him with Ryan Rhodes and then we can do it.”
Martirosyan revealed that he felt pressure to perform this time and to win by knock out since his last time on HBO on the under card of Cotto-Foreman where Martirosyan faced Joe Green, he left much to be desired in a lackluster performance, “I put a lot of pressure on myself, I wanted to win big and felt I had to win big and by knock out.”
In closing, Arum did not discard the idea of traveling to Mexico to challenge the red-headed Mexican super star Alvarez if need be, “Alvarez has a tough fight in two weeks, let’s see how he comes out of that first. We paid a big sanctioning fee for Vanes and now he is #1 so if we have to down to Mexico, we will say ‘si’ and hopefully Vanes can challenge ‘Canelo’ this fall and get the victory.”
“It was a great night for Top Rank,” Arum said to begin the post fight press conference held in the Chick Hearn press room in the bowels of the arena. “Three young stars, Vanes Martirosyan, Mickey Garcia and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., looked spectacular. It is wonderful for me that Julio won the title in LA where his dad won the first title. It just shows the continuity of boxing.”
“The joy in the face of his father is something I will never forget,” Arum stated regarding the reaction of Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. of seeing his son win the title. “He is unbelievably proud of his son and he told me he prouder of his son than when he won his first title.”
Wearing a grey pin stripped suit and multiple bruises on his face especially around his left eye, Chavez Jr. addressed the assembled media for the first time as a world champion, “I am very happy to win the title. I promised every one that I was going to do it. The German is a strong fighter with a good defense but I think that my heart was the difference.”
“I am very excited in winning the title, this was a great learning experience,” Chavez Jr. said as his voice cracked with emotion. “This is the beginning of a new story and a new stage for me. It was very important to win the title. I hope to maintain myself as a champion for many years to come. I am ready for the big fights and I want to thank God. I hope everyone enjoyed the fight and I won the title for Mexico. I am proud to be able to continue the legend that my father began and I promise to defend this title proudly.”
With the fighter that many fans and pundits consider the linear 160 lbs. champion Sergio Martinez in attendance, Chavez Jr. opted to liven up the atmosphere with humor when asked if he would be willing to fight the Argentinean next.
“Ask Bob,” he said in english as the crowd chuckled in unison with the dais. “He’s a great champion and I have a lot of respect for him. I would be proud of fighting him and if he’s next, he’s next.”
Arum explained further why he felt that at this point a Chavez Jr.-Martinez match up was not feasible, “Sometimes what the media wants is not always the most practical. HBO pays more than anybody else but that money is still limited. For the fighters to really make money it has to be done on PPV. Martinez never has been in a PPV fight. PPV providers don’t know Martinez so they wouldn’t really sink advertising dollars. PPV providers do know Cotto who has a great track record, they know Margarito. I’m not Martinez’s promoter. His promoter should get off his ass and make him a PPV attraction.”
“I proved a lot in this fight but there is still much more to prove,” Chavez Jr. said introspectively.
The former champion Sebastian Zbik took the podium soon after and just like the media decided to ask the now seated Chavez Jr. a question, “I ask Julio if he is happy with the fight and if he is happy how he won the belt?I hit him more times and I think I made the fight. I look at the score cards and I think they are funny. I’m upset that I lost the title this way.”
“We knew that if it was close we would lose the fight but I didn’t think it was that close. I’m proud of this fight but sad I lost my title. I must accept the situation and congratulations to Julio,” he said in closing.”
In the co-main event, featherweight Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia stopped the clearly over match Rafael “Chocho” Guzman who took the fight on late notice. Garcia controlled the bout from the opening bell and seemed to land at will. In the fourth, Garcia landed a hard straight right hand that dropped Guzman and he was unable to beat the count. The quick knock out marked the second time that Garcia appeared on HBO and during the post fight press conference he mentioned that although not in a rush, he was ready for a world title fight.
“I am happy with my performance, I think it was a good fight for the people,” he said. “I am excited that we won and happy to be part of such big event and to be the co-main bout. Like Bob said, I am improving and ready for an opportunity for a world title. If any champs want to give me a title shot, I’m ready.”
When asked which of the current champions he was more willing to face, Garcia made it clear that it didn’t matter and he was more than willing to face any of them and the sooner the better, “All the current champions are champs because they have what it takes to hold the title. Many of them have been champions in other division like Jhonny Gonzalez, Yuriorkis Gamboa and ‘JuanMa’ Lopez. I am ready for any of them. I fight at my pace and I make my fight. I think my style can give any of them problems because I make it my fight.”
Garcia’s brother and trainer, former champion Robert Garcia, seconded the twenty-three year old’s statements and also believes that “Mikey” is ready for the best in the division.
“Based on his last performances, Arum, his manager Cameron Dunkin and myself, we think he is ready,” the trainer said. “They are great champs out there but to be a great champ you got to beat them. We are in no rush but if HBO can give us a shot and Bob Arum can work something out, we are ready.”
Top Rank seems to have a hold of the division as they promote the biggest stars in the 126 lbs. weight class in and Bob Arum laid out what could be the plans for Garcia for the remainder of the year, “It all depends on who is available. Salido, the WBO champion is going to defend in Mexico and then has a rematch with Juan Manuel Lopez. Gamboa, I’m not sure. We will probably go for the vacant IBF title and then have a unification match. As far as Chris John, he fights in Indonesia where he makes a lot of money and he is not going to fight a ‘Mikey’ Garcia. Garcia is definitely fighting for a title this year and it could be in November or September depending if Chavez fights Cotto.”
Undefeated super welterweight Vanes Martirosyan also took time to thank his loyal Armenian following and to give his thoughts on his seventh round KO win over Saul Roman which now settles him as the next mandatory challenger for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“This was a tough fight but a great learning experience,” Martirosyan said with a bruised up face but also with a smile. “I put a lot into this fight. I feel blessed to be with Top Rank and ready for ‘Canelo’ when he steps up. I hope every thing goes good with him with Ryan Rhodes and then we can do it.”
Martirosyan revealed that he felt pressure to perform this time and to win by knock out since his last time on HBO on the under card of Cotto-Foreman where Martirosyan faced Joe Green, he left much to be desired in a lackluster performance, “I put a lot of pressure on myself, I wanted to win big and felt I had to win big and by knock out.”
In closing, Arum did not discard the idea of traveling to Mexico to challenge the red-headed Mexican super star Alvarez if need be, “Alvarez has a tough fight in two weeks, let’s see how he comes out of that first. We paid a big sanctioning fee for Vanes and now he is #1 so if we have to down to Mexico, we will say ‘si’ and hopefully Vanes can challenge ‘Canelo’ this fall and get the victory.”
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