y Dan Ambrose: Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will reportedly be meeting with the Nevada State Athletic Commission [NSAC] this month on February 28th to explain the circumstances behind his positive marijuana test last September from his unsuccessful title defense against Sergio Martinez.
Chavez Jr. lost the by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision and took a real pounding from Martinez. Afterwards, Chavez Jr. tested positive for marijuana.
Chavez Jr. could receive a huge fine of as much as $3 million and given a length suspension by the NSAC if they find him guilty. However, it’s expected that Chavez Jr. will receive a small fine, if any, and smaller suspension given that this is the first time he’s tested positive for marijuana, and also because the drug isn’t considered a performance enhancing substance. Chavez Jr’s attorneys are looking for him to receive on a small fine of as much as $10,000, according to RingTV.
Any suspension Chavez Jr. is given by the NSAC will have time taken away due to an automatic suspension the NSAC gave to Chavez Jr. starting from after his fight with Martinez. It’s possible that any suspension the NSAC gives Chavez Jr. could be over with within a few months under the best case scenario.
Chavez Jr’s promoter Bob Arum would like to get him back in the ring by June for a tune-up fight to get him ready for a pay per view rematch in September against Martinez. As long as Chavez Jr. wins this fight and Martinez wins his scheduled April 27th title defense against the unbeaten Martin Murray in Argentina, we could see Chavez Jr. and Martinez back in the ring facing each other by September.
Chavez Jr. is going to need to train a lot harder if he wants to beat Martinez in the rematch because he was just too flat-footed and slow to do much in the fight. Chavez Jr. did knock Martinez down in the 12th, but that was when Martinez stopped moving and decided to fight him toe-to-toe. Chavez Jr. won’t be able to count on Martinez fighting him like that for any part of the rematch because Martinez will likely avoid making that same mistake.
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