By Dan Ambrose: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is watching his career fly by with him being inactive for long stretches at a time. The now 30-year-old Chavez Jr. says he wants to get back inside the ring in September against an opponent still to be determined. Chavez Jr. says the fight will be at light heavyweight at 170lbs. That would make it Chavez Jr’s fourth fight in the light heavyweight division since moving up to super middleweight three years ago.
It seems like the smarter move for Chavez Jr. would be for him to simply move up to the 175lb division and have it done with. At least that way, he wouldn’t have to fight making 168, which I don’t think that’s an easy weight for him. Chavez Jr. had to battle hard to make 160 during his time fighting in that division.
You could tell just by looking at how emaciated Chavez Jr. was for his final three fights in the 160lb division that moving up to 168 likely wouldn’t be enough. He looks like he really needs to be fighting at 175 right now at light heavyweight instead of persisting to fight at catch-weights at 170. Chavez Jr’s catch-weight fights are similar to Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s own catch-weights at middleweight with him boiling down from the 170s or possibly even the 180s to fight at 155 against smaller guys.
Chavez Jr. hasn’t fought since last year in July 2015, when he defeated middleweight Marcos Reyes in a fight that took place at light heavyweight. Chavez Jr. looked terrible in winning a very unimpressive 10 round unanimous decision over a guy that looked much smaller than him.
Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 Kos) could possibly fight next in Mexico City unless his adviser Al Haymon has a fight for him in September in the United States. With only a month to go before then, it’s not likely that Chavez Jr. will be matched against anyone decent. He’s been out of the ring for too long of a time, and there’s not enough time to train for him to fight anyone good.
It’s unclear where Chavez Jr’s weight is right now. If he’s over 168 again, then he’ll need to fight at light heavyweight for the third straight time. Chavez Jr. technically moved up from the middleweight division to super middleweight in 2013, but since moving up to that division, he’s only had one fight there against middleweight Brian Vera. Chavez Jr’s other three fights have been at light heavyweight. It would seem that Chavez Jr. is going to wind up fighting in the 175lb class whether he wants to or not, but he’ll likely continue to drag smaller fighters up in weight to fight him in that weight class rather than facing real light heavyweights. We saw what happened when Chavez Jr. fought someone his own size in the light heavyweight division when he was blown out by Andrzej Fonfara in nine rounds last year in April.
“I hope to fight in mid to late September,” said Chavez Jr. to espn.com.mx. “I want to at least one fight this year, inactivity is the worst enemy of any boxer, and the truth wherever it appears that the best opportunity to make money is in the United States. But I would not mind risking my bag for fighting in Mexico.”
Chavez Jr. suffered a wrist injury in his fight against Reyes last year, and that forced him to miss a lot of time. However, Chavez Jr. was also out of the ring for over a year after his second fight against Brian Vera in March 2014. Chavez Jr. didn’t return to the ring until April of 2015 in a fight against Fonfara, who totally dominated him in knocking him down and forcing him to quit after the ninth round.
Despite being out of the ring for over a year now since July 2015, Chavez Jr. is currently rated #6 with the World Boxing Association. It’s unclear why the sanctioning body is keeping Chavez Jr. rated so highly with him out of action, but I suppose they have their reasons.
“The truth is that I have already raring to get into the ring, and let out all, weighing not wrong,” said Chavez Jr. “The fight would be at 170 pounds but hopefully down to 168 pounds. The injuries are doing well. There’s little pain in hand but it’s something I’ll always have to deal with.”
If Chavez Jr. does fight next month in September, hopefully it’s at least against a super middleweight this time rather than another middleweight pulled up in weight to fight him. Chavez Jr. has fought three times against middleweights in his last four fights. He needs to at least fight guys from the 168lb division if he’s going to call himself a super middleweight. It doesn’t make sense for Chavez Jr. to fight against middleweights any longer. It just makes him look like a cherry picker in the eyes of some boxing fans.
J’Leon Love was a possible name that was being talked about for Chavez Jr’s next fight, but it now is unclear whether that fight would take place. Chavez Jr. would be trained by Freddie Roach to get ready for his next fight whoever it is against. Love would be considered an upgrade from Chavez Jr’s last fight against Marcos Reyes. That would be a tough fight, even though Love is a flawed fighter that has already been exposed.
Any chances of Chavez Jr. fighting Saul Canelo Alvarez have pretty much gone out the window with Chavez Jr. moving up to super middleweight. If Canelo were to fight Chavez Jr. right now, it would need to take place at super middleweight, and that would open Canelo up to criticism for not fighting middleweight champion Gennady GGG Golovkin.