By Dan Ambrose: It’s been 11 months since the last time former WBC 160 pound champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-1-1, 32 KOs) last fought, and it’ll be over a year by the time he faces #4 WBC light heavyweight contender Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) in their catch-weight fight on April 18th, if Chavez Jr’s promoter Bob Arum doesn’t stop the fight from taking place.
Arum has repeatedly said recently that Chavez Jr still has one more fight on his contract with Top Rank, and that if he attempts to fight outside of his contract, he’ll get an injunction to halt the fight from taking place. However, Chavez Jr., 28, is saying that he’s checked with his lawyers and that he thinks Arum can’t do anything to stop his fight with Fonfara from taking place.
We’ll soon know if Chavez Jr is right or if Arum will be able to legally block the fight from taking place. If Arum does get his way and is able to block the fight legally, then Chavez Jr is going to need to make a decision on whether to do that fight with Top Rank or to appeal it.
“We’re going to try and 3 or 4 fights to make up for the time we lost,” Chavez Jr said to ESPN Deportes. “My lawyers tell me that the fight can’t be stopped, and it’s already done. Bob Arum can’t stop it. I’m happy where I’m at. He can say whatever he wants like he has for Mayweather-Pacquiao, that we have a contract. But in reality contracts are signed for this fight, and the fight will happen.”
The contracts being signed for the Chavez Jr vs. Fonfara fight doesn’t necessarily mean that Arum can’t still block the fight from taking place. It just means Chavez Jr signed a contract. Who knows? Arum could be bluffing about wanting to block the Chavez Jr-Fonfara fight, although I don’t think so. I believe that Arum is going to attempt to block the fight. It’s unclear at this point if he can stop it from going ahead.
It’s hard to see Chavez Jr fighting 3 or 4 times in a short period of time. He tends to disappear for long stretches after his fights, and I suspect that we’ll probably see him fight only twice in 2015. If he beats Fonfara next, and Arum isn’t able to block him, then we’ll see Chavez Jr fighting in the summer against WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-BIltv_wK0
Chavez Jr hasn’t done anything to deserve a world title shot at 168 against Froch, as he’s only fought once at super middleweight and that was against middleweight journeyman Brian Vera in his last fight. Before that, Chavez Jr fought Vera at light heavyweight.
So in other words, Chavez Jr has never even fought a super middleweight before. He’ll be getting the Froch fight over other top contenders, and the World Boxing Association would have to sanction the fight as having the WBA title up for grabs. They will sanction the fight due to Chavez Jr being automatically ranked high by the World Boxing Council at #3, despite Chavez Jr having fought nobody in the division. He was just given a high ranking off of no wins in the division.
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