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Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. up and left training camp over the weekend while in the midst of preparing to face Badou Jack for the WBC super middleweight title. His father, boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., expresses his concern about his son's lack of commitment to the sport.
"I don't know what happened, I'm extremely disappointed, sad and very worried about his indiscipline," said Chavez Sr., who first broke the news Monday on ESPN Deportes' A Los Golpes show. "Really, he was training very hard at Big Bear and all of a sudden he left, he came down."
Chavez Sr. went on to express additional concern that his son didn't just leave Big Bear to take a break from training, intimating that he was worried that Chavez Jr. didn't leave "to do good things."
Chavez Jr. refutes his father's claim though, saying he simply left camp to have his foot looked at, do some running, and visit his daughter.
"I don't know what happened, I don't know why he said that. I came down from Big Bear to Los Angeles to check on my heel, then later went and ran in Santa Monica, I took the time to see my daughter and I'm returning to do sparring because my heel feels better," said Chavez Jr. "Maybe he got mad because I don't do things as he likes to. I respect him because he's my father, but I'm 30 years old."
It's clear that Chavez Sr. is worried about his son doing things the right way in this dangerous sport as Junior has twice failed drug tests and was subsequently suspended from the sport. It's also been well publicized that Junior used to skip out on training sessions while under the tutelage of Freddie Roach, which clearly isn't a credit to his dedication to the sport. Moreover, it didn't help his reputation when he was previously featured on HBO eating cereal in his underwear, training in his living room, and doing flips into an outdoor pool. None of this is standard stuff for a professional prizefighter - but Junior has always done things his own way.
"If this boy, my son, continues with this lack of discipline, his lack of responsibility ... I'd rather have him retire, that he not fight," Chavez Sr. added. "This kid wants to do what he wants, train what he wants, at the time he wants. I'm disappointed of his (lack) of discipline, his apathy."
I can't comment as to whether or not this was simply a misunderstanding between a father and son who have a troubled history, but I will say that I've seen recent training footage of Chavez Jr., and he looks to be a long way away from 168lbs.