Marquez says Canelo beating Chavez Jr. is just another victory

By Boxing News - 01/28/2017 - Comments

Image: Marquez says Canelo beating Chavez Jr. is just another victory

By Dan Ambrose: Juan Manuel Marquez doesn’t see Saul “Canelo” Alvarez getting much from acclaim if he beats Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in their fight on May 6th on HBO PPV. The boxing fans want Canelo to fight Gennady Golovkin.

He’s considered to be the No.1 middleweight in the division. The fans have been asking Canelo to fight Golovkin for 2 years, and he’s gone in the other division in fighting the likes of Amir Khan, Liam Smith, an arguably over-the-hill Miguel Cotto and James Kirkland. Now Canelo is fighting Chavez Jr. in what is viewed as a ‘business fight’ rather than a sporting fight.

Chavez Jr. doesn’t fight at middleweight, and he’s not one of the relevant fighters at 168. Chavez Jr. is ranked at 168, but he’s made no waves at all since moving up to that division. He’s just there. If Canelo was interested in sport, he would take on one of the best fighters from the super middleweight division in Gilberto Ramirez. He’s probably the best in the division right now.

Marquez doesn’t say why he feels this way but it’s most likely because of the inactivity of Chavez Jr. over the past five years of his boxing career as well as the catch-weight of 164 ½ pounds the fight will have. The catch-weight helps Canelo and hurts Chavez Jr. Canelo has the easier job of moving up in weight from 155 to 164.5.

That’s a lot simpler than it would be for him to cut weight. Canelo has been cutting weight for a long time to melt down to 154 and 155. Canelo has been slow to make the full plunge into the middleweight division, which is why he’s gone down to 155 to fight in 2014 through 2016. It’s harder for Chavez Jr. because he’s not making the 168lb weight limit on a consistent enough basis to suggest that he belongs in this weight class. Chavez Jr. is having as much problems making 168 as he was making 160 before he left that division. It makes you wonder if Chavez Jr. will have problems making 175 as well if he moves up to that weight class.

“It’ll be a fight where Julio Cesar’s strength and weight will be decisive to defeat Alvarez’s intelligence, punching and good boxing,” said Marquez to Fight News. “Although I think his chance is less than Alvarez, if Chavez wins, it will be the beginning of a return to the big time. If Canelo wins, it will be just another victory for his career.”

A win for Chavez Jr. would be huge for boxing, because it would bring back one of the stars from five years ago. Chavez Jr. would expose Canelo by beating him. There are already a lot of boxing fans who view Canelo as a shorter version of Chavez Jr. Canelo is doing the same thing that Chavez Jr. was doing years ago in melting down vast amounts of weight to fight guys that are lighter than him. Canelo’s reluctance to fight at middleweight is seen by fans as him being afraid to fight guys his own weight. It’s improbable that the 30-year-old Chavez Jr. will win, but you can’t rule out the possibility. Chavez Jr. has got the size, power and the inside game to give Canelo fits. It would be a shot of adrenalin for boxing if Chavez Jr. wins. it would set up a rematch with Canelo, and that would be a big fight.