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Lyell’s strategy against Chavez? Back him up, then beat him down
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. enters tonight’s fight against Billy Lyell with an advantage in size, weight, reach, power, experience, pedigree, fame, geography and fan support.
Lyell doesn’t care. He thinks many of those advantages exist more on paper than in person.
“He has 41 fights but he’s been brought along kind of easy,” said Lyell, a Niles High graduate. “We want to get into the later rounds and test his heart.”
Lyell (22-8, 4 KOs) will fight one of the biggest bouts of his career when he takes on Chavez (41-0, 30 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight bout tonight in Sinaloa, Mexico.
His strategy is simple — back Chavez up, fight strong inside and patiently pile up points while avoiding his opponent’s lethal left hook.
“We’ve got 10 rounds to work with,” Lyell said. “That’s a lot of time.
“The cream is going to rise to the top when the fight’s over.”
At 5-9, Lyell will give up about three inches to Chavez, the son of the acclaimed Mexican fighter.
Lyell will also likely give up about 15 pounds. A true junior middleweight, Lyell expects to weigh about 155 pounds at fight time, while he expects Chavez to tip the scales around 170.
“If we can be stronger and back this kid up, that would be really great for us,” said Lyell’s trainer, Keith Burnside. “We’ve got to be strong and we have to fight inside with this kid.
“That’s the only way to do it. Billy is only 5-9, so he’s gonna have to fight that way.”
Like his father, Chavez Jr. has a strong left hook, so Lyell and Burnside have been working on countering that punch. Lyell has also been sparring with taller, heavier fighters to prepare for the size disadvantage.
If Lyell has one clear advantage, it’s in competition. His resume includes fights against IBF middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester (34-3), NABF light middleweight champion Vanes Martirosyan (28-0) and James Kirkland (25-0).
The 24-year-old Chavez has yet to face boxing’s best, although he and Lyell both have wins over John Duddy, the only two losses on Duddy’s record.
While Lyell has suffered his share of losses, he believes he’s as good as anyone he’s fought.
The win over Duddy proved it to him.
“Until you go in there and beat somebody and go down to the wire, you always have that question, ‘Am I that good?’” Lyell said.
“There’s no question in my mind that I’m on a world class level with them.”