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Jake Paul vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr: The undercard gem set to shine
When Jake Paul and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr meet on June 28 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, live on DAZN PPV, the bout between will pit two of the most popular and most follwed fighters against each other.
Paul, 11-1 (7), is the bigger name on the docket for this one. The US-born 28-year-old fighter started boxing a little over five years ago with a match against Ali Eson Gib in Miami. After winning that in the first round and as a cruiserweight, he has fought twelve times but is yet to face a boxer from the higher echelons of the sport, as much as he is trying.
The journey Paul has taken himself on in those five years has been through a series of other influencers, fighters from other disciplines, and one legend.
After beating former UFC star Anderson Silva, who was 47 at the time, on points over eight rounds, Paul lost a split decision to Tommy Fury, then rebounded with a series of wins beginning with a points decision over ten rounds against former MMA star Nate Diaz.
This run last touched base with a unanimous decision victory over Mike Tyson in November last year.
Paul’s appeal lies in his… appeal. He is one of the people in the world who is famous for merely being themselves and people respond to that. He has 28.5m followers on Instagram, 20.9m subscribers on YouTube, 4.7m followers on X, and another 6m followers on Facebook.
He also has a new reality series that started earlier this year.
Al Bello/Getty Images
The other side of the docket is the home of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, 54-6-1 (34), who is known for his carrying of his father’s name, his turbulent professional career, and a good moment in a middleweight title fight thirteen years ago against the Argentine Sergio Martinez.
When Chavez Jr faced Martinez in Las Vegas in September 2012, he was 46-0-1 and coming off a run of wins against good-but-not-great opposition in John Duddy, Billy Lyell, Sebastian Zbik, Peter Manfredo, Marco Antonio Rubio, and Andy Lee.
Still, Martinez seemed in a different class for eleven rounds of the fight until Chavez Jr caught the Argentine with a left hook in the twelfth round that sent Martinez nearly through the ropes.
Martinez, however, managed to hang on and the thorough drubbing that nearly became a win morphed instead into a noble loss.
Chavez Jr’s career has never recovered the same steam since. He was stopped in nine rounds by the Polish Andrzej Fonfara and lost a unanimous decision to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez .
His last notable fight was another loss, this time in five rounds to Daniel Jacobs in 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. That fight was marred by its result (a retirement on his stool), the crowd reaction (throwing objects into the ring), and Chavez Jr’s refusal to provide a sample for the drug test administered by the local boxing administration. That last item led to another suspension—one that followed suspensions in 2009 and 2012 for the diuretic furosemide and marijuana.
If his career has been uneven, Chavez Jr at least brings with him his father’s name. The original Julio Cesar Chavez, 107-6-2 (85), is regarded as Mexico’s greatest-ever fighter, with a career stretching over twenty-five years and multiple world title fights.
Such legacy brings recognition. And the son has plenty of it, with nearly 750,000 followers on Instagram and over 240,000 followers on X. While he may not have the audience that Paul has, that is more than enough eyeballs on him to make a match-up between the pair compelling.
The ten-round fight is to be at cruiserweight, where Paul will return after weighing 228½lbs for his bout against Mike Tyson. Chavez, meanwhile, began his career at 130lbs in 2003 and weighed for his last fight, against the 1-0 Uriah Hall last year, 197¾lbs. That, then, was Chavez Jr’s highest weight of his career, having spent most of it somewhere around the middleweight limit of 160lbs.
Golden opportunity on undercard
The undercard holds a gem that may appeal to the common fan. The chief support on the Golden Boy-promoted card will be a fight between the Mexican Gilberto Ramirez, 47-1 (30), and the Cuban Yuniel Dorticos for the WBO and WBA cruiserweight championships .
Ramirez turned professional in 2009, and his career has been interesting if confusing as to why he has never become a huge crossover star like ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
Ramirez announced his move onto the world stage with a decision over the German-Armenian Arthur Abraham in Las Vegas in 2016 for the WBO super-middleweight championship, then seemed to stall before superstardom.
Despite a run of wins, his fights tended to stay away from the bright lights of boxing, taking place in locations such as Oklahoma City, Galveston, and Corpus Christi.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
A loss by decision to Dmitrii Bivol in 2022 did little to help Ramirez’s career, and he seemed to be a shadow in the division until beating Arsen Goulamirian for the WBA belt, followed by Chris Billam-Smith for the WBO title last November.
And now he defends both against Dorticos.
Dorticos, 27-2 (25), lives in Miami but is Cuban by birth. A 22-0 record led him to a 2018 fight on foreign soil against Murat Gassiev in 2018. Dorticos lost that, came back with good wins against Mateusz Masternak and Andrew Tabiti in Orlando and Riga, then lost by majority decision to the Latvian Mairis Briedis in a TV studio in Munich over twelve rounds.
He has won three since, all against undistinguished opposition and all by stoppage.
Ramirez-Dorticos seems a good match-up on paper. Ramirez will be looking to make an impression. Dorticos will be looking to do the same.
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