Julio Cesar Chavez Jr vs. Andrzej Fonfara at 172lb catch-weight on 4/18 at StubHub Center, Carson, CA

By Boxing News - 02/25/2015 - Comments

chavez92By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-1-1, 32 KOs) will be having his next fight at a catch-weight of 172 pounds against light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) on April 18th at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

It’s unclear if the Chavez Jr-Fonfara fight will go ahead though, as Chavez Jr’s former promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank says that Chavez Jr is still under contract with his company for one more fight. Arum has been talking about having the Chavez Jr-Fonfara fight blocked legally.

Whether that will take place or not is still up in the air. If Arum is able to block the fight, then Chavez Jr is going to need to make a decision whether he wants to take his final fight of his contract with Arum or simply retire from the sport.

“It was already signed; the fight will be 172 pounds and 12 rounds. I am very happy that I will finally be back in the ring”, Chavez said via espndeportes.espn.go.com. “We’ll see if after winning this fight comes Gennady Golovkin or Carl Froch. I always have wanted to face the best. That’s why I chose Fonfara, a dangerous opponent that will allow me to know where I am.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgZxdj-u5ac

For Chavez Jr this is his second time fighting at a catch-weight over 170 pounds. In his first fight against Brian Vera, Chavez Jr fought at a catch-weight of 173 pounds. At that weight, Chavez Jr was sluggish and slow.

You have to wonder why Chavez Jr simply doesn’t move up to light heavyweight and campaign in this weight class, because he’s clearly having problems making the 168 pound limit after having moved up in weight from 160 to that weight class in 2013.

With the way that Chavez Jr was struggling to make 160, I figured that he would also struggle badly trying to make 168, because he was rehydrating to the point where he looked like a cruiserweight rather than a middleweight.

Trying to make 168 has got to be a real problem for Chavez Jr, and I can see him struggling badly once he gets past Fonfara and has to face someone like Carl Froch or Gennady Golovkin.

Froch, the WBA super middleweight champion, wants to fight Chavez Jr in the summer. However, that’s not likely to happen because Chavez Jr is going to need at least four months to recover from the Fonfara fight, so we’re probably looking at the Froch-Chavez Jr fight taking place in September or October, if at all.

It’s also possible that Chavez Jr could face Golovkin next after the Fonfara bout, as long as they can agree to a weight.

I don’t think that Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler will be excited at the prospects of fighting the light heavyweight sized Chavez Jr at a catch-weight of 172 pounds. You have to figure that if Chavez Jr is fighting Brian Vera and Fonfara at catch-weights in the 170s, he’ll possibly try the same bit with Golovkin.

“We also chose to fight at 172 pounds because it is just the second time that would fight at that weight,” Chavez Jr said. “He [Fonfara] is used to fight at 175 pounds or a little further. On this point there will be no advantage to anyone.”



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