Anyone remotely aware of how controversies go in 2017 had to know that Julio César Chávez Jr. would not stay quiet in the face of being robbed of both his watch and his dignity following his monumental loss to Canelo Álvarez. The NSFW video that leaked out last week of Chávez Jr. intoxicated and surrounded by women in provocative poses implied everything from lack of interest in his defeat to infidelity, but the boxer has come out on the defensive in light of the embarrassment.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Chávez Jr. stated that the videos “were made to burn me. I would never pay to sleep with a woman,” he said, referencing rumors that the women in the video were prostitutes (prostitution is legal in Nevada, but illegal in Las Vegas). “I know I am very trusting, and it was an error, but it’s too much to say I’m the worst and that I am a bad example for kids.” Speaking about the implication of infidelity, the boxer went on to say that “money comes and goes, but I want to make it clear to my wife that nothing happened with the women in the video.”
Chávez Jr.’s wife, Frida, had already publicly stated that she believed his version of the events, and that the family’s main worry was getting the stolen property returned, with legal action a possibility as well. All things being equal, it’s fair to compare Chávez loss and subsequent embarrassment to Canelo’s post-fight activities, which included accepting a fight with Gennady Golovkin and rejecting the huichol belt the WBC crafted for the winner of the May 6 showdown between the Mexicans.
Moral of Chávez Jr.’s wild Las Vegas story? Don’t get into a fight you know you can’t win, and don’t let people get you so drunk that they can rob you of your winnings from that same fight.