By Eric Thomas: A fight between WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez is under discussion. However, the fighters and their promoters are at a sticking point over what weight that the mega fight will take place.
Alvarez, 21, only recently moved up to 154 pounds, and at 5’9″, he’s not a big junior middleweight. Chavez Jr., 6’0″, is big for the division and has had huge problems making the 160 pound limit. In his last fight against the WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik, Chavez Jr. ballooned up to 180 lbs after rehydrating following the weigh-in the day before the fight.
The chances are probably high that Chavez Jr. will again balloon up to at or near 180 lbs for a fight against the smaller Alvarez. Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum wants the Alvarez-Chavez fight to take place at a catchweight of 158 lbs, which is only two pounds under the 160 pound limit.
Oscar De La Hoya, the promoter for Alvarez, wants Chavez Jr. to meet Alvarez halfway in between 160 and 154 at a weight of 156 lbs. That sounds like a fair deal, right? Chavez Jr. doesn’t see why Alvarez won’t fight him at the full weight of 160 lbs, reportedly pointing out that Alvarez rehydrated up to 168 lbs after his recent win over Alfonso Gomez.
Of course, if Alvarez were to agree to fighting Chavez Jr. at 160, there’s nothing keeping Chavez Jr. from once again rehydrating up to 180+, meaning that Alvarez would be facing a cruiserweight-sized Chavez Jr. while weighing in the neighborhood of a super middleweight. I think that would no doubt favor Chavez Jr. because he’d still have at least a 12 round advantage if not more depending on how much weight Chavez Jr. packs on after the weigh-in.
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