By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is interested in match his fighter WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr up against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez in 2012. Arum reportedly has spoken to Alvarez’s promoter Richard Schaefer from Golden Boy Promotions about a potential Alvarez-Chavez fight for 2012, and Schaefer is open to the idea according to Ring.tv.
The difficult part about a fight between Alvarez and Chavez Jr, besides the obstacles involved with Top Rank and Golden Boy trying to work with one another, is coming up with a good catch weight for the fight to take place at. Alvarez is 5’9″ and fights at 154 lbs, while Chavez Jr is 6’0″ and fights at 160 lbs.
But it’s more than just six pounds that separates the two fighters, because Chavez Jr weighed 180 pounds after re-hydrating for his last fight against World Boxing Council middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik on June 4th. Alvarez, 21, won’t come anywhere near that weight and will likely be out-weighed by as much as 20 pounds by Chavez.
It might not matter since Alvarez has much better boxing skills compared to Chavez and seems to be a much more complete fighter. However, anytime you spot another fighter 20 pounds, you’re giving away a big advantage. Chavez Jr. really is a super middleweight squeezing down to middleweight. His days at 160 are numbered.
He’s not going to be able to make the weight for very much longer and when the times that he’s forced to fight at super middleweight or light heavyweight, Chavez will likely find it tough getting wins unless he’s put in with just B level fighters. A fight between Alvarez and Chavez Jr isn’t just a fight that’s separated by six bouts, as we saw recently. Chavez Jr is huge after he rehydrates and unless Alvarez can get some kind of rehydration limit, it’s probably not a good fight for him. You can’t fighting guys that are 20 pounds heavier, even if they’re limited in terms of skills like Chavez.
It’s not surprising that Arum wants to put a fight together between Chavez Jr and Alvarez. Chavez Jr is now the WBC champion and he’s going to be forced to fight Sergio Martinez next year or else he’ll have to vacate his title. Even if Chavez Jr. faces one of his top contenders like Marco Antonio Rubio, the chances are high that Chavez Jr will lose. Fights against Martinez and Rubio probably won’t bring the same kind of money that a fight against Alvarez will. Since Chavez Jr. is about to lose anyway, I can see why Arum would want to match him up against Alvarez.
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