▲ Julio César Chávez Jr. (left) has been fighting a strong battle against addictions for years, which kept him away from the ring. Photo courtesy of 2M Promotions
Juan Manuel Vazquez
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, January 4, 2024, p. a10
Julio César Chávez junior seemed destined to succeed almost by inheritance. Being the son of the greatest Mexican boxing idol was his gift and also his condemnation. In recent days, the young man from Sinaloa appeared in videos in which he makes serious statements against his father, whom he even accuses of wanting to kill him. A few days before, Chávez Sr. admitted on social networks that he was too worried about Junior’s health, victim of a drug addiction, and said he felt helpless because of the irony of having rehabilitation clinics to help others and not being able to recover the one he loves most.
In a disjointed manner, Junior attacks his father, whom he accuses of having kidnapped him to force him into a rehabilitation clinic and of sending people to poison him.
I distanced myself from everyone, but they won’t leave me alone, he protests in a video on a social network; I’m not going to leave anyone behind, not even my dad. My father is killing me, he is killing me. They have sent people to kill me, they have tried to poison me. That’s why they don’t want me to take this to court, because they’re all going to go to hell.
Rodolfo Chávez, brother of the legendary Julio César and Junior coach throughout his career, acknowledges before The Conference be alarmed by the continuous messages that his nephew publishes from the United States.
At this moment it no longer matters whether Junior returns to boxing or not, he says sadly; that is the least; What really matters is that he recovers, that he understands that he needs to stop that damn addiction that has him like this.
Rodolfo has not heard from his nephew for more than a year. But he finds out about the crisis he is going through from what they publish on social networks and from what he sees and reads about his brother. He lives the Chávez drama in silence and without being able to intervene.
I don’t watch those videos of my nephew, the truth is, Rodolfo comments; Not only was I the one who started managing him when he was a kid who wanted to box, but I am also his father’s brother and it affects me more than if he were just a fighter who works with me.
Julio César Chávez Sr. does not usually communicate his emotions, says Rodolfo. He is a very reserved man and keeps his worries and pains to himself. When they meet in Culiacán, the legendary former boxer locks himself up to train in silence and vents his anger into a punching bag.
He lets off steam by hitting the sack
That’s where he gets everything out, he lets off steam by hitting the sack and training hard. I respect him, but that’s how he is, he doesn’t like to talk a lot about what worries him. I only see him suffer in silence, says Rodolfo.
Chávez Sr. insistently acknowledges that he has wanted to help his son, but cannot do so by force. That is, traveling to the United States and bringing him even against his will, because there it has criminal consequences.
I can’t bring him to him by force, what more would I want out of desperation, but unfortunately it’s not possible, because I might even get into legal trouble, Chávez himself told The Conference last November during the World Boxing Council convention.
The other time I wanted to bring him with me and the police even kicked me out there in Los Angeles, Chávez Sr. added.
Rodolfo thinks that his nephew’s story is a painful case for the family, but it also illustrates those dramatic biographies in boxing. Only in this case it is a fighter who was born in the midst of privilege as the son of the greatest legend of Mexican boxing.
I don’t know what happened, because my nephew had almost natural qualities. I took him by the hand since he was 15 years old and I was throughout his career. He has wasted all of that. I don’t know if it was because of the friends that surrounded him or simply being the son of who he is was too much for those boys, because the same thing happened to Omar, who has already returned and wants to take things seriously, Rodolfo points out.
Chávez Júnior can still save something, considers Rodolfo. He needs to choose recovery to deal with his addiction. Only in this way does he think that Junior will overcome one of his worst crises. So as not to end up as a promise that he consumed itself as happens every so often in boxing.
2024-01-04 10:12:05
#longer #matters #Chávez #returns #boxing #recovers
