By Allan Fox: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2, 32 KOs) is already looking past his next opponent Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) towards a big money fight against unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs). Chavez Jr. says he can beat Golovkin if he agrees to come up to 168 to fight him in the super middleweight division. The 6’0” Chavez Jr. feels that he’ll be too big for Golovkin if the two of them face each other.
Golovkin, 34, will possibly be facing WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders on June 10 in Kazakhstan. If Golovkin wins that fight, he could be facing Canelo in September depending on whether the fight can be properly negotiated and if he gets past Chavez Jr. in their fight on May 6. Chavez Jr. has the chance to earn a fight against Golovkin if he can beat Canelo.
“I’m ready to beat Canelo. He’s a smaller guy,” said Chavez Jr. to Fighthub.com. “He takes a lot of risks to move up 10 pounds. I think he’s underestimating me, and Canelo is going to pay for that,” said Chavez Jr.
I don’t think Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy expected Chavez Jr. to be able to take the weight off so quickly to get close to the 164 ½ pound catch-weight for the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight. They might have expected Chavez Jr. to struggle in taking weight off like he’d done in many of his fights in the last 5 years. Chavez Jr. has approached this latest training camp with a different mindset, as he’s much more motivated than he has been for a while. Chavez Jr. says he’s already down to 179, and he has a month and a half to go before the Canelo fight.
“I think I have more chance to beat Golovkin now, because he’s 36,” said Chavez Jr. “He’s smaller than me. I think Golovkin together with Chavez’s name is a good fight. He knows how strong I am. I beat Golovkin at 168. He’s got good power. I think Canelo is a good opponent for him. Kell Brook hurt Golovkin,” said Chavez Jr.
Chavez Jr. is a little off about Golovkin’s age. He’s actually about to turn 35 in April. He’s not 36. Golovkin wasn’t hurt in the Kell Brook fight. It was the other way around. Brook was hurt. He suffered a broken right eye socket. Golovkin came out of the fight uninjured. He was never staggered or dropped by Brook.
Golovkin might be moving up to 168 after the Saunders and Canelo fights. It depends on what’s there at 160. Golovkin can fight a rematch with Daniel Jacobs, who he just beat last Saturday night by a 12 round unanimous decision. If Golovkin beats Jacobs a second time, then he’s probably better off moving up to super middleweight to go after fights against the likes of James DeGale, Chavez Jr. and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez. There are 3 good fights in the 168lb division waiting for Golovkin when/if he moves up in weight. If some of the light heavyweights like Andre Ward can come down to 168, then he might be a possibility if he doesn’t retire from boxing.
