By Jeff Aranow: Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. wants to return to the ring in December against former WBA 160 pound champion Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs in a fight in the 168 pound division. Both Chavez Jr. and Jacobs are coming off of defeats in their last fights. Moreover, both guys are managed by Al Haymon. Chavez Jr. isn’t saying whether negotiations are underway with Jacobs or not.
The 31-year-old Chavez Jr. (50-3-1, 32 KOs) lost a wide 12 round unanimous decision to popular Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in his last fight on May 6 earlier this year in a fight televised on HBO pay-per-view in Las Vegas, Nevada. Chavez Jr. had to take off 70 pounds to get down to the 164.5 pound catch-weight for the fight.
If this is true that Chavez Jr. needed to lose 70 lbs. to get down to fighting weight, it means he started training at 234 lbs. That’s an incredibly high amount of weight to start training camp. Chavez Jr. probably should have asked for more time to take the weight off slowly. While Chavez Jr. did take the weight off, he looked weak and unable to fight at a high level.
There was no power in Chavez Jr’s punches, and he only rarely let his hands go. When Chavez Jr. did throw punches, he had nothing on them. The power was not there. Chavez Jr. ended up losing the fight to Canelo by the scores 120-108, 120-108 and 120-108.
The only good thing that could be said about the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight is Canelo announcing his September 16 bout against unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin immediately after the fight. If not for that move by Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions, there would have been a lot of angry boxing fans about having purchased horrible Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. fight.
“I am proud to be able to go back to boxing after my surgery in the hand and to have dropped more than 70 pounds in seven months, and to have scored 163 pounds after five years of not fighting at that weight,” Chavez Jr. said on his Instagram account. “At times I thought I was going to die because I lost so much weight. Thank God I did it, not the best way, but I’m fine. I think my best moment is yet to come,” said Chavez Jr.
Chavez Jr. would be taking a big career risk if he were to fight the 30-year-old Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) right now. Even if the fight does take place at super middleweight, it’s going to be very hard for Chavez Jr. to deal with the hand speed and power of Jacobs. Chavez Jr. had major problems with Canelo’s hand speed, Jacobs is about as fast as Canelo, but with a lot more power and size.
Canelo is only 5’8”, and he probably weighed no more than 175 lbs. on the night of his fight with Chavez Jr. Jacobs is 6’0”, and there are some boxing fans who believe that he weighed 190 pounds on the night of his last fight against Golovkin. In other words, Chavez Jr. wouldn’t have a weight advantage over Jacobs. He would have to try and beat him with power, talent, and heart and with his overall boxing skills.
Chavez Jr. fighting at 168 against Jacobs might not be a good weight for him. Chavez Jr. has struggled badly to make the 168 lb. limit to fight at super middleweight in the last 3 years. As thin and weak as Chavez Jr. was for his fights against Dominik Britsch and Canelo, it could mean that he belongs in the 175 lb. division, not at 168. When a fighter insists at fighting in a weight class below his natural weight, it can lead to the fighter being weak and emaciated looking.
Chavez Jr. can beat the fringe contender level fighters when he’s weakened, but he’s not going to do well against high level guy like Danny Jacobs. He’s bad news for Chavez Jr. Jacobs is quite able to knock Chavez Jr. out in the same way Andrzej Fonfara did in April 2015. Fonfara scored a 9th round stoppage win over Chavez Jr. after he quit at the end of the 9th. Fonfara had knocked Chavez Jr. down in round 9 of the fight.
Chavez Jr. decided he’d had enough and decided not to come out for the 10th. It looked bad seeing Chavez Jr. quit on his stool without him getting back out there and going out on his shield the way that a lot of fighters choose to do. Ultimately it might not matter whether Chavez Jr. is strong and at his best weight for a fight against Jacobs or not. he’s still going to be in way over his head in the talent and hand speed department.
Jacobs has been fighting at middleweight, but he’s mostly been fighting in the super middleweight division in his fights in the last 24 of Jacobs’ 34 pro fights have taken place in the super middleweight division. He’s technically been calling himself a middleweight, but he’s still weighted in frequently over the middleweight 160lb. limit It’s only been in the last 3 years that Jacobs has consistently weighed in in the 160lb. class. Before that, Jacobs had been weighing in a little bit over the 160lb. limit in fighting middleweights. There was no need for Jacobs to make the 160lb weigh-in limit due to him fighting poor opposition following his 5th round knockout loss to Dmitry Pirog in 2010.
Chavez Jr. would be risking his career in a dangerous fight against Jacobs. The fight is all wrong for Chavez Jr. on a number of levels. Here are the negatives that could come from Chavez Jr. fighting Jacobs in December:
– The interest in a Chavez Jr. vs. Jacobs fight won’t be as high as it should be due to Chavez Jr’s recent loss to Canelo. The fight won’t likely generate a lot of interest from boxing fans. Chavez Jr. would be better off taking some tune-ups to rebuild his career before fighting someone like Jacobs.
– Chavez Jr. doesn’t possess the speed to beat Jacobs.
– Jacobs’ punching power would be difficult for Chavez Jr. to take.
– Chavez Jr. would likely have problems making the 168lb weight limit for the fight. We just saw how weak and emaciated Chavez Jr. looking in making the 164.5lb catch-weight limit for his fight against Canelo Alvarez on May 6. With another 3.5 lbs. to play with for a fight at 168 against Jacobs, Chavez Jr. would be no better off than he was against Canelo. Chavez Jr. needs to seriously think about moving up to 175, as he’s too heavy to be fighting at 168 at this point in his career.
Jacobs gave a good account of himself in losing to middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin by a 12 round unanimous decision on March 18 this year. Jacobs came close to beating GGG. The fight would have been different if Jacobs had thrown more punches and stayed in the pocket in the first half of the fight. Jacobs had the size, speed and the power to possibly beat Golovkin if he’d used a more aggressive game plan early on in the first 6 rounds.
Golovkin won the fight by the scores 114-113, 115-112 and 115-112. Jacobs has been vocal ever since the loss that he should have won. Few boxing fans agree with him. Jacobs was knocked down in the 4th, and he struggled with Golovkin’s power. Jacobs did mount a furious rally in the last 6 rounds, but he fell short. Golovkin had a large enough lead to get the victory. Jacobs emerged from the Golovkin fight with more popularity than he had going into it.
It was as if Jacobs had won the fight in the eyes of many in the boxing world. Jacobs has repeatedly called for a rematch with Golovkin, but he’s been ignored. Golovkin is facing Saul Canelo Alvarez on September 16 in a much money fight than the Jacobs fight. If Golovkin gets past Canelo, he’ll possibly fight him in a rematch or go after WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in a unification match.