Hi Scraptime,
I hear what you are saying but I have ambivalent feelings about the fight. I agree in that if he has world title ambitions he should be looking to make a mark on fighters of this calibre and should not be engaging in competitive life or death struggles with them. There is the expectation that he should be able to either stop them with Chavez snr like blows or at least outbox them and take them to school. I feel his defence is too poor and I also feel that he does not make good use of his natural height and reach. He could do with having a solid jab and I personally would have him schooled along the lines of Alexis Arguello; solid jabs and straight rights and with the toughness and willingness to engage close up with that Chavez patented left hook to the body.
On a plus note I admired his general toughness and the combination body work. That left hook to the body was working well and Junior delivered it at times with grace and speed; occasionaly it brought back memories of his father.
I feel that Chavez Snr was disappointed in this performace, judging by his body language at ringside I felt that there were times when he was trying to tell Junior how to punch. Junior does not yet have the punch variety and importantly is not playing to his strengths. He is trying to emulate his father too closely and I feel that oneday he will come a cropper. He is not anywhere as good as his illustrious father but if managed and developed carefully could maybe win one of the world titles. He needs to change his style and he needs to speed things up. Speed, defence and a good working jab would be the tools that I would focus on; I hope that these are areas that they focus on.
I don't think that he is a flake I just do not think that he is anywhere ready for the top fighters in the division yet.