Las Vegas Plastic Surgery
A Plastic Surgeon’s Perspective on Saturday’s Middleweight Championship in Las Vegas
I am a huge fan of professional boxing. One of the many benefits of owning and opertating a plastic surgery practice in Las Vegas is the opportunity it provides to attend world-class professional boxing on a regular basis. Occasionally I am even fortunate enough to participate in these bouts as a post-fight plastic surgeon. Typically I tend to fighters associated with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Boxing. I consider myself to be very blessed to be able to combine my passion for boxing with my professional experience as a plastic surgeon.
Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. and Sergio Martinez collide inside the ring this Saturday, September 15th at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. At stake are the WBC Middleweight Championship (Chavez Jr.) and the Ring Magazine Championship (Martinez).The first pugilist, Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., is the son of a living boxing legend. The family dynamics are well documented. Of note, there have been only five other Father/Son boxing Champions.
This is billed as the fight that will allow Chavez Jr. to step out of his father’s shadow and into his own limelight. Chavez Jr. has continued to improve as a more complete boxer. This trend started notably in the Duddy contest in San Antonio. It was the first fight where he worked with trainer Freddie Roach. Since that time Chavez Jr. continued his undefeated streak, capturing the Championship belt from Sebastian Zbik along the way. Despite his height advantage, Chavez Jr. tends to go inside (much like his father). It will be interesting to see how his game plan unfolds.
The knock on Chavez Jr. has been that his previous opponents have been carefully chosen, arguably as he only had two fights as an amateur. His current opponent contends that he was not ready to earn the championship. Chavez acknowledges that Martinez is the best boxer that he has yet to face, but is very confident that he will prevail.
In the other corner is a champion in his own right, Sergio Martinez. He was born in Argentina, moved to Spain, and now resides in Oxnard, CA. He is currently rated as the third best “Pound for Pound” boxer in the world. He was also garnered “Fighter of the Year” and “Knockout of the Year” awards. He is the former WBC and WBO Middleweight Champion. He won these belts after being knocked down by Kelly Pavlik. Martinez then opened up cuts over Pavlik’s eyes and dominated the later rounds, garnering the victory.
He is confident that his movement will frustrate his opponent, and that his power “in both hands” will allow him to be victorious.
They will be fighting the weekend of Mexican Independence Day. On September 16th, 1810 Father Hildago called upon the citizens of Mexico and issued the “Grito de Dolores,” the famed pronouncement of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain. Rest assured, if the war in the ring is anything close to the ongoing war of words, we will be in for quite an evening.
I hope after the fight none of these warriors will need the services of a plastic surgeon. Best wishes to all the fighters. I can’t wait for the bell…
Jeffrey J. Roth, M.D., F.A.C.S.
(702) 450-0777www.jjrothmd.com