By Dan Ambrose: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) has succeeded in upsetting former two division world champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) to the point where it’s now deeply personal for him, and he says he’s looking forward to getting him in the ring on May 6 to let his fists do the talking.
Canelo-Chavez Jr. are fighting at a catch-weight of 164 ½ pounds on HBO pay-per-view on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo on May 6 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since the fight was signed, Chavez Jr. has given his thoughts on Canelo, and apparently he’s gotten on the nerves of the 26-year-old Golden Boy Promotions fighter.
I don’t know what Canelo was expecting Chavez Jr. to say about him, but he wasn’t going to be receiving compliments poured over his head. Chavez Jr. sees Canelo as a beatable fighter, and he’s not going to hold back his comments now that they’re signed to fight each other.
Canelo said this to ESPN Deportes about his fight against Chavez Jr:
“It’s a fight that people asked for, to give to boxing people and non-boxers to enjoy it,” said Canelo about his fight against Chavez Jr. “It is personal and professional. It became more personal, because of so many things that he says, and the offenses to my person that he’s said. Thank God there is the fight of May 6 and me as I always like to speak above the ring and that day I am going to Talk,” Canelo said.
So it’s personal now with Canelo for the Chavez Jr. fight. If Canelo is going to be fighting with anger and turning red in the face, I can see him losing badly. In boxing, you have to fight smart and under control. You can’t fight with extreme emotional states like anger, because it’s impossible to keep your adrenalin at a high level for any length of time. It doesn’t work like that in boxing.
If fights lasted just 1 round, then you could fight with anger, but even then, it would be stupid. The calmer fighter would always win. It’s interesting that Canelo is talking about how it’s personal for him with the Chavez Jr. fight. I don’t see it making any difference at all in the outcome. If Canelo going out there angry inside the ring on May 6, then I think he’s going to take a beating from Chavez Jr. This is a sport in Chavez Jr’s mind. He doesn’t fight with anger. He sees it as a sport.
Chavez Jr. isn’t going to tell Canelo he’s the greatest fighter ever. I don’t know what Canelo is expecting from him. Chavez Jr. sees weakness in Canelo that he thinks he can exploit in this fight. As long as Canelo holds back his emotions before they enter the ring, everything should be fine. We don’t need these guys going at it during their press conferences or the weigh-in for the fight.
Canelo needs to stay under control until he gets Chavez Jr. inside the ring. I don’t know that Canelo has the power to hurt Chavez Jr., and I don’t think he can beat him at his own game of throwing body shots on the inside. If Canelo gets trapped into a fight on the inside, I can see him losing to Chavez Jr., because he’s like a bigger version of Canelo. Chavez Jr. is able to get a lot of leverage on his shot with his tall 6-foot frame. Canelo is no taller than Amir Khan and Floyd Mayweather Jr. , and both of those fighters are 5’8”.
The catch-weight of 164 ½ pounds is going to make this fight a very tough one for both fighters. It’s going to be hard for Canelo because he’s likely going to put more weight on for this fight, and that’s going to likely make him sluggish when he has to carry the extra pounds around the ring for 12 rounds. It’s going to be tough on Chavez Jr. because he’s going to be fighting at the lowest weight for him in many years. It’s not going to be easy for him.
A lot of boxing fans are giving Chavez Jr. a real chance of beating Canelo. The reason for that is because of the size advantage the 6-foot Chavez Jr. will have in the fight and a possible weight advantage as well. It’s not a given that Chavez Jr. will outweigh Canelo on May 6, because he’s really grown in the last three years.
Canelo looks like a short light heavyweight when he rehydrates for his fights. That’s something that works for him and hurts him at the same time. I think it hurts Canelo because he’s been taking off so much weight to get down to 154 and 155 for his fights. I don’t care who you are. If you drain down 20 to 30 pounds of water weight and put it back on the night before the fight, you’re going to be sluggish three or four rounds. That might be one reason why Canelo needs to take so many rest breaks against the ropes in his fights.
Canelo sounds like he’s not used to being criticized by his opponents. I think with a lot of them, they were just glad that they were given the opportunity for the payday to fight him. Let’s be serious. A lot of the fighters that have fought Canelo in the last three years were fighters that really had no business fighting him. We’re talking about fighters like Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland, Amir Khan and Liam Smith. Those weren’t particularly talented fighters, and they were more than happy to fight Canelo. The money was obviously good.
Canelo did fight a couple of good fighters in the last three years in Miguel Cotto and Erislandy Lara. Cotto came close to beating him, and Lara did beat him in the minds of a lot of boxing fans. Two judges that worked the Canelo-Lara fight had Canelo winning the fight. The other judge saw Lara winning. I saw the fight and I had Lara winning.
I didn’t care who won the fight going into it. I just saw Lara as the better fighter, but I never thought he would win a decision over Canelo. I don’t see that as possible. Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Canelo in 2013, but he was a super popular fighter. Even then, one judge unbelievably scored the fight a draw.
“My boxing and my experience should define the fight, and it will shine in the fight,” said Canelo. The weight is a new category for me, but I think I’m going to feel good. I’m going to feel strong, and it will come out my experience and level of boxing shine in this fight, Canelo said.
I don’t think Canelo will be any stronger than he normally is. All the extra weight that he puts on won’t do much in increasing his power. If Canelo doesn’t control his weight, he could turn out to be considerably slower than he normally is. It might be better for Canelo to keep his weight low for this fight because he’ll get too tired if he all of a sudden puts on 10 pounds for the fight and comes into the fight in the 190s.
A lot boxing fans already think Canelo is rehydrating to 185lbs for his fights. If he puts on another 10 pounds to that total, then he’ll be fighting at 195lbs, and that’s a lot of weight for someone to be carrying around at only 5’8”. It’s easier for Chavez Jr. because he’s 6’0” and has the frame to carry 190+ pounds. When you put all that weight on a short fighter that stands only 5’8” like Canelo, then it can hurt them in the stamina department.