Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Sergio Martinez 24/7 episode 1 debuted on Saturday night after HBO’s live doubleheader of boxing action. The first episode of Chavez vs. Martinez 24-7 brought us into the training camps of each man, some of their contemptuous pre-fight trash talk and interactions, and much more. Take a look at our complete recap of 24/7 Chavez-Martinez episode 1 right here.
We get started with Chavez Martinez 24 7 episode 1 with some classic training montage video, and some narration about perception, what it means, and what the perception and story arch for Chavez and Martinez are at this point in their respective careers.
For Chavez – at the end of the day, he’s still his father’s son, above all else. For Martinez – he waited his turn, he defies expectations and he doesn’t believe Chavez Jr. deserves to be where he is.
Now we’re in Oxnard, California, and Sergio Martinez may be 6,000 miles from home, but this is home now. He says that boxing is like a religion in Oxnard, and he loves being there. Sergio talks about his youth and upbringing, quitting school, being dead broke, living in danger, turning to sports, and eventually finding boxing when he was 20.
Martinez moved from Argentina to Spain, and met Pablo Sarmiento and his brother. And thus the journey to the top began. He says he’s looking to win by knockout, and that Chavez Jr. better work hard because he doesn’t want any excuses.
A shorter 60 mile ride away from where Martinez is now, and we’ll find the rental home of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., where he is based in close proximity to Freddie Roach and the Wild Card Gym. Today though, Chavez and his team just push some furniture around the house, and do some mitt work in the living room.
Today, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. arrives for a visit. We see some footage of father and son together during his career and past, and Sr. talks about his struggles with addiction. Jr. talks about dealing with those issues when he was a kid, and how hard it was.
He shares a story of his dad being basically on a binge for days and trying to show him things in the gym. He knew he had to get his father some help, and helped to get him into rehab. At the time, Sr. basically renounced him as a son, but now he loves him for it, and believes that otherwise he’d be dead.
It’s been 9 years since Chavez Jr. turned pro — and we see some video of him then, and he’s the scrawny, baby face kid that we remember, and that some people still largely regard him as. Jr. calls Sr. not just his father, but his idol, and he’s fighting not just for himself, but to add even more to that name and legacy.
We’re back in Oxnard, and Martinez is on an early morning cycling session. He talks about the benefits he gets physically from that. When he’s done with that, he’s getting in the water for paddleboarding, using it as a mental training tool as much as anything, and getting his body to respond to threats — he can’t even swim. He doesn’t understand it, or want to learn. But there he is no the paddleboard.
Now we hear about how Martinez’s house and car were vandalized last week. Martinez talks about how stupid people can be found all across the world, and for him, that’s all this was, the actions of one stupid person. But he’s not letting the incident affect him, despite the disruption it caused.
While most fighters are creature of habit, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is a little bit different. We’re at the Wild Card for the first time here in Chavez vs. Martinez 24/7 episode 1, and Freddie Roach talks about he’s a little bit all over the place. He works when he wants to work, and that could be at 2 am or whenever he’s feeling it.
Roach says he’s not a natural fighter like his father, he has to work at it, but he does. Then we see him in an intense sparring session with a couple of southpaws. Besides Roach, we see that Alex Ariza is back in the mix for team Chavez Jr. JCC Jr. talks about how Ariza has helped him in the past with his career, and Roach says basically that he’s very good at his job, and they have to work together to get the job done, regardless of personal issues.
We switch back to Ventura and Martinez’s camp. Sarmiento talks about how Martinez is doing great in training, and Martinez talks about how well they work with one another. However, it was Sarmiento’s brother, Gabriel, who used to train him, and also was in his corner for the Kelly Pavlik fight.
Then we see flashbacks to the Pavlik bout, and the one punch KO victory over Paul Williams. But now, Gabriel was extradited to Spain for an assault charge, putting Pablo back in charge for Maravilla. For Martinez, he says that he’s still following that same system and he still has that connection with Gaby, and besides, he thrives when things are difficult.
Back to Chavez Jr., and we meet Frida Munoz, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s girlfriend of three years. She comes to visit and we learn about the two of them and how they met. Frida has been there ringside for all of his fights since they began to date, and she’s nervous, but they did meet in a boxing gym after all. Now we’re flashing back to Chavez’s recent ring history, and we see footage of the Chavez vs. Lee bout.
Now it’s montage time to end the episode. Chavez Jr. interrupts a backyard BBQ for an impromptu training session, and starts talking a ton of trash about how Martinez isn’t loved, and won’t ever be loved, and that he’s already old and washed up. Martinez talks calmly and confidently about winning the fight and how he’ll get the job done. And that wraps up the show.
Thanks for checking out our recap of Chavez vs. Martinez 24/7 episode 1, and be sure to continue checking us out for more boxing news coverage, and updates on the upcoming mega-fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Sergio Martinez.
