Jesus Chavez is a champion who knows the oddsmakers favor his challenger, but he also knows he has been beating long odds since his days as a teenager in Chicago.
“I know I could be a pawn in a chess game,” Chavez said of making his first title defense as the World Boxing Council 130-pound champion against highly regarded Erik Morales. “It will be interesting to beat the odds again.”
Morales, a champion at 122 and 126 pounds, will be moving up in weight seeking a title in a third weight class when he challenges Chavez in a scheduled 12-round super featherweight championship bout Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Morales is a 3-1 favorite.
Underdog Chavez believes he will benefit from Morales’ ambition and pride as a Mexican fighter. “He will bring the fight to me, he will stand in with me,” Chavez said. “He and I will clash in the middle of the ring. After he feels my power, he’s going to move back.”
Chavez, like Morales, is a Mexican fighter, but he learned to fight in Chicago. “I learned the majority of my basic boxing skills in Chicago,” he said.
Chicagoans Tom O’Shea and Sean Curtin helped Chavez hone his skills. They taught and trained him as he fought amateur bouts under his familial name, Gabriel Sandoval.
And they stood by him when his life outside the ring detoured–first into prison for more than three years for a grocery store robbery as a teenager, then to Mexico, where he was deported twice.
The first time, he had not become a naturalized U.S. citizen before he was convicted of the crime. The second time was because he sneaked back into the U.S. to pursue his professional boxing career as Jesus Chavez. When the Immigration and Naturalization Service discovered that Chavez and Sandoval were the same person, he was deported again. Twice he has failed to get the State of Illinois pardon that could gain him citizenship. But the INS has granted him permanent U.S. residency.
Promoter Bob Arum can’t understand the roadblocks Chavez has encountered.
“It’s something that’s wrong with the immigration laws of this country, something that should be rectified,” Arum said.
Chavez, 31, shrugs off the past with a feeling of satisfaction at having wrested a title from champion Sirimongkol Singmanassak of Thailand last August. But he knows that beating Morales, a true world-class fighter, would mean a lot more.
Chavez has won 40 of 42 fights, 28 by knockout. He avenged one of his losses when he knocked out Carlos Gerena last year. His other loss came against another champion, Floyd Mayweather, who stopped Chavez in the ninth round of their title fight on Nov. 10, 2001.
Losing to Mayweather, who subsequently moved up to win a title at 135 pounds, was a valuable learning experience, Chavez said. “I was kind of overwhelmed by being onstage in such a big fight. Now I’m ready.”
Chavez expects Morales (45-1 with 34 knockouts) to be a slower and more stationary opponent than the slick Mayweather. Both fighters have been uncommonly respectful of each other, disdaining the taunts that often precede title fights.
“I’m impressed with Erik Morales’ accomplishments,” Chavez said. “I want to make my career just as impressive.”
And he intends to take a big step with an upset Saturday night. “I’m going to leave my mark in that ring when I step off as a world champion,” he said.
Chavez-Morales will be the main event on an HBO telecast (8:30 p.m. Saturday) that includes Miguel Cotto (18-0) against Victoriano Sosa (36-3-2) in a super lightweight bout.
Heavyweight update: Top contender Vitali Klitschko will face Corrie Sanders on April 24 for the heavyweight title made vacant by the retirement of Lennox Lewis, Klitschko’s promoter said Thursday.
The site for the fight has yet to be decided, but promoter Peter Kohl said both fighters have agreed to terms. Klitschko will be seeking more than just the WBC heavyweight title. His brother, Wladimir, was knocked out by Sanders last February, in a startling upset.
