Canelo holds ALL the advantages for Chavez Jr. fight says Sanchez

By Boxing News - 01/18/2017 - Comments

Image: Canelo holds ALL the advantages for Chavez Jr. fight says Sanchez

By Dan Ambrose: Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez doesn’t like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr’s chances of beating Saul Canelo Alvarez in their fight on May 6. Sanchez sees Canelo as having all the advantages in the fight with it taking place at a catchweight of 164 ½ pounds. Sanchez sees the 26-year-old Canelo winning the fight by a 12 round decision. That’s surprising news, because a lot of the boxing fans are saying that Chavez Jr. has no chance, and will wind up getting knocked out at some point in the fight by Canelo.

It’s not good that Chavez Jr. quit on his stool just two years ago after the 9th round in his fight against Andrzej Fonfara in 2015. Fonfora knocked Chavez Jr. down in round 9 with a big head shot. In between rounds, Chavez Jr. pulled a no mas in choosing to quit on his stool rather than going out for round 10 and losing the fight possibly by a normal knockout.

You know the old saying: when a fighter quits once, it becomes easier for them to quit again when the going gets tough. Hopefully, Chavez Jr. revert to form and stay on his stool if Canelo starts working him over. There’s a lot of boxing fans that excited about the Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. fight, beause they see it as a match that will deceide who the No.1 fighter is in Mexican boxing.

If Chavez Jr. quits on his stool at some point when things get tough for him, then it might send the wrong message to the fans. Another quit job for Chavez Jr. could hurt his marketability for future fights. Of course, if this is a money grab fight for Chavez Jr., then it probably doesn’t matter if he quits on his stool or not. He’ll just retire from the sport after he gets his big payday against Canelo, and it won’t matter if he loses fans.

Sanchez saw how weight drained Chavez Jr. was for his last fight against Dominik Britsch last December in their fight in Monterrey, Mexico, and he described him as “skeletal” and looking like his brother Omar Chavez, who has always been very thin. Sanchez expects Canelo (48-1-1, 34 KOs) to be very comfortable at the 164lbs for the fight, because he’s moving up in weight from the 155lb division that he has camped at for the last couple of years.

Some boxing fans call the 155 pounds the “Canelo division” due to his frequent habit of fighting at that weight. But for the Chavez Jr. fight, Canelo won’t need to drain down nearly as much. Canelo will still need to lose a lot of weight to get down from the mid-170s to mid-180s to get to the 164.5lb catchweight, but it won’t be as bad as it normally is.

Sanchez said this to Fighthub.com about the Canelo vs. Chavez Jr fight:

“Gennady had both guys in camp in sparring,” said Golovkin’s trainer Sanchez about Canelo and Chavez Jr. having sparred with him in the past. “I think it’ll be difficult for Julio to get down to 165. It was difficult for him to get down to 168. He [Chavez Jr.] may have made it, but if you look at his face at the weigh-in, he was a skeleton. He looked like Omar [Chavez], his brother. So that may play a part in how the fight develops. Canelo will be at 165 comfortable. He will not have to diet. He will have all the advantages going into the fight. I think Canelo’s hand speed and Chavez’s lack of energy will be the deciding factor. Canelo will win a decision,” said Sanchez.

It’s obvious that Chavez Jr. wasn’t in the position to prevent Canelo from getting all the advantages in this fight. Canelo was the A-side in the negotiations, and was able to get Chavez Jr. to agree to the catchweight of 164 ½ pounds, and he and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions were also able to get Chavez Jr. to agree to a flat fee rather than a percentage deal for the fight.

A percentage deal would have given Chavez Jr. a lot more money than a simple flat fee. If Chavez Jr. beats Canelo, then he can probably get a much better deal in the rematch with him. The problem is that it’s going to be next to impossible for Chavez Jr. to beat Canelo. Any chance Chavez Jr. had of beating Canelo went out the window when he agreed to a catchweight of 164.5lbs for the fight.

Deontay Wilder vs. Joseph Parker fight in negotiations

The promoters for WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker at Ducco Events are in negotiations with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder’s manager Al Haymon for a unification fight between the two of them. The unification fight would allow the two of them to avoid facing their mandatory challengers. It’s a fight that both guys want.

“We’ve read the WBO rules and if they sanction unification, it can override a mandatory,” Duco promoter David Higgins said to skysports.com. “There are some options to look at and we’re looking at all of them. That’s a fight that will happen. It’s a matter of when, not if. My initial discussion was with Al Haymon and Al and I discussed how the lack of unification is hurting the heavyweight division over the years. We shared an identical view about that situation and agreed that unification is good.”

Parker’s promoters obviously see some kind of weakness in Wilder for them to want to make this fight happen. It’s not as big a money fight than a unification fight between Parker and IBF champion Anthony Joshua. If Ducco Events can get Wilder, 31, to agree to fight Parker in New Zealand, it would give him a big advantage over the American fighter. We saw recently how Parker was able to beat Andy Ruiz Jr. by a questionable 12 round decision in New Zealand. If that fight had taken place in the U.S, there would have been a good chance that Parker would have lost.

“I think we would look at both options and see what Wilder would be prepared to put on the table to go to Vegas or Birmingham [Alabama] and conversely what we could put on the table for Wilder to come here. Then we would talk and work it out,” said Higgins.

Parker is expected to defend his WBO title against his mandatory challenger Hughie Fury next if he doesn’t fight a unification match. Hughie isn’t a big puncher, but he would still be a threat to Parker due to his size and boxing ability. Parker is not a really solid fighter yet. He’s got to a lot of holes in his game that Hughie could take advantage of if he’s got a good game plan for the fight.

It might be better for Parker if he took the Wilder fight rather than Hughie, who will be looking to box for 12 rounds. Wilder will be slugging it out, and will leave himself open for one of Parker’s big power shots. There might be more interest in a Parker vs. Wilder fight in New Zealand then there would be for Parker to face the 22-year-old Hughie, who would just a challenger and not a champion.