Chavez talks Canelo vs. Golovkin

By Boxing News - 10/02/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Mexican boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez believes that Saul Canelo Alvarez is improving with each and every fight, but he feels that the fans want to see him fight IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Chavez wants to see Canelo take the fight, as do many followers of the sport. Chavez also thinks that his son former World Boxing Council middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs) will eventually fight Canelo.

Chavez says that Julio Jr. is looking to move back down to 160, and he thinks it’s possible. As of now, Chavez Jr. hasn’t fought in the 15 months since struggling to beat middleweight Marcos Reyes by a 10 round decision in July 2015. It doesn’t look like the 30-year-old Chavez Jr. is going to be making an appearance at 160 anytime soon.

“I believe that that fight will happen sooner or later,” said Chavez Sr. to ESPN Deportes via Fight News. “Julio is losing weight, he wants to go down to 160 pounds and I believe that if Julio trains hard and is well prepared he can make 160 but it all depends on him.”

It’s hard to believe that Chavez Jr. will be able to melt down to 160 at this point in his career. He had problems making 160 even when he was young and training all the time, but for him to do it now, I think it’s impossible. In three out of his last four fights, Chavez Jr. has weighed in over 170lbs and looked emaciated at the weigh-ins. For him to get down to 160 might be impossible to do without him hurting himself.

If Canelo wanted the fight badly enough with Chavez Jr, then perhaps he could spot him five or six pounds of extra weight if he failed to make 160. I just don’t think Chavez Jr. would even make 168 at this point. As long as the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight didn’t get canceled if Chavez Jr. BADLY missed the contract weight for the fight, then it would be an interesting idea for him to fight Canelo. However, they would need to think seriously about making that fight happen soon though, because Chavez Jr. is not fighting on a regular basis at this point.

The longer Chavez Jr. waits to make the fight with Canelo the more likely the boxing public won’t give a fig that they’re fighting each other. Chavez Jr’s inactivity could make it harder for him to make weight, because he might not be training enough now that he’s no longer fighting on a yearly basis.

Chavez Jr. has fought only four times since he got a big payday in his 12 round decision loss to Sergio Martinez in 2012. That loss seems to have taken the air out of Chavez Jr’s career, as he’s fought only four times since then in twice beating middleweight journeyman Brian Vera, then losing to Andrzej Fonfara and then beating middleweight Marcos Reyes. Chavez Jr. was supposed to be fighting in the super middleweight division the last three years, but he’s still not faced anyone from the 168lb division yet.

Chavez thinks his son Chavez Jr. can beat Canelo if/when that fight happens. Unfortunately, it would seem unlikely that Chavez Jr. would even be competitive with Canelo right now. In Chavez Jr’s last four fights, he’s looked slow, very hittable, and not the same fighter that he was back in 2012, when he beat Andy Lee by a 7th round knockout.

“Of course he [Chavez Jr] does, he has the skills to beat Canelo and he has the cojones as well,” said Chavez about his son being able to beat Canelo.

If Chavez Jr. could get back inside the ring and start fighting four or five times per year, then I think he might be a viable opponent for Canelo at some point in the future, as long as he’s looking good. I don’t think that would be fair to Chavez Jr. to fight Canelo anytime soon. I don’t think it would be fair to the boxing fans that pay to see that mismatch on HBO pay-per-view.

We’ve already seen Canelo matched against weak opposition repeatedly in the last two years in fights against Liam Smith, Amir Khan, James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo. Having Canelo fight Chavez Jr. would be the equivalent of another fight for Canelo against Kirkland or Angulo. Chavez Jr. is a name from boxing’s past. He stopped being relevant about the same time Angulo and Kirkland did. It would be nice if Canelo started fighting quality fighters from this era rather than from the previous era or against paper champions.

“Canelo has the skills, he looks better with every fight and the only thing that we as boxing fans want is that he (Canelo) fights Golovkin,” said Chavez.

Canelo has good skills, but I think he and Golden Boy Promotions are waiting out Golovkin until he gets older before they make that fight. In other words, I think they’re using the Floyd Mayweather Jr. blueprint in waiting out a star until he gets old before making the fight happen. Golovkin is about to turn 35. If he starts looking really bad while still winning, then the fight will get made between Canelo and Golovkin, but not before then.