Diego Gabriel Chaves

Argentinian hard hitter Diego Gabriel Chaves (22-0, 18) recently claimed his first "world" title by stopping the Moroccan born Ismael El Massoudi (36-4, 14) to claim the "Interim" WBA Welterweight title with this in mind we've decided to have a deeper look at the man known as "La Joya" (The Jewel).

Born in San Miguel, Buenos Aires in 1986 Chaves first started to make a name for himself in boxing circles as an amateur stand out who often competed internationally. Included in Chaves' amateur accomplishments are a number of medals including a Silver medal from the 2006 South American Games and a Bronze medal from the 2007 Pan American Games. Sadly for Chavez he failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics so instead of continuing on as an a amateur he decided to turn professional.

Chaves made his professional debut on July 5th 2008, just weeks before the Beijing Olympics kicked off and started his professional career with a 3rd round knock out against Juan José "Golden Boy" Islas. Chaves dropped Islas for the count after 2 very nasty body shots which sent Islas down to a knee where he remained for the count. Just weeks after beating Islas, Chaves returned to the ring and scored his second win by stopping Luis Alberto "La Cobra" Ponce inside a round. By the end of the year Chaves had roared away to 6-0 (6) with his heavy hands taking their toll on his opponents as he delivered devastating shots to the body time and time again.

To start 2009 Chaves was again busy scoring 4 wins in the first 6 months of the year. It was the final of those 4 bouts that saw Chaves tested for the first time as the experienced Guillermo de Jesus Paz managed to not only survive the 10 round schedule but also drop Chaves in the 2nd round. Despite being dropped Chaves won all the other rounds to secure a clear decision, the first decision win of his professional career. Just a month after the bout with Jesus Paz, Chaves would claim his first professional title, winning the WBO Latino Light Middleweight title in just 2 minutes as he swiftly disposed of Uilian Santana Barauna. Amazingly Chaves had only been a professional for a little over a year yet had already managed to claim his first professional title and make a mark on the WBO ratings.

After defending the WBO Latino Light Middleweight once (at the end of 2009) Chaves moved back down to the Welterweight division and swiftly claimed ownership of the WBO Latino Welterweight title by stopping Daniel Saboia in 4 rounds. Chaves would go on to defend the WBO Latino Welterweight title 5 times which saw him being forced to go 12 rounds for the first time in his career (by Jeferson Luis Goncalo) and being dropped for the second time in his career (by Omar Gabriel Weis).

By the end of 2011 Chaves had run his record to an excellent 20-0 (16) and had started to be talked about as a legitimate title challenger by some of the hardcore fans who had followed his career on Argentinian television channel TYC Sports. What few likely suspected at the start of 2012 was that Chaves would spend 8 months out of the ring before facing the little known Ismael El Massoudi in a bout for the "Interim" WBA Welterweight title. Against El Massoudi, Chaves showed his impressive power in stopping the former champion in 2 rounds with one of the KO of the Year contenders.

Chaves is expected to defend his title later this year in his native homeland, hopefully next year Chaves will fight outside of Argentina (something he has only done once so far) and perhaps start to get the wider acknowledgement that he deserves.

Due to his style, win or lose, Chaves will always be fun to watch. His aggressive power punches can hurt anyone in the sport and whilst he's wild he gives opponents a chance to hit him back. Chaves does land some beautiful body shots and really loves to let his hands go (often a little bit too much) and is a very TV friendly fighter who would surely be suited to American TV in the near future.

Since claiming his world title Chaves has made 1 defense of his belt, stopping the over matched Jose Miranda in 2 rounds.

The video below shows, in full, Chaves' title winning bout with Ismael El Massoudi and is courtesy of boxeola1