Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

By Boxing News - 02/20/2017 - Comments

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

By Jeff Aranow: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Saul Canelo Alvarez met on Monday for their international press tour in Mexico City, Mexico to hype their May 6 fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The casually dressed 30-year-old Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) looked like a giant during the face off with the 5’8” Canelo (48-1-1, 34 KOs) when the two of them were on stage after speaking.

(Photo Credit: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy Promotions)

The 6’0” Chavez Jr. looked like a fighter at least three divisions above Canelo. It was pretty shocking to see the two fighters standing next to each other. Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy promotions may have a made a mistake in selecting someone as large as Chavez Jr. for his next fight on HBO pay-per-view, because this prove to be a size mismatch, and fight won on size. Chavez Jr. still looks a little overweight in the face, but he’s got three months to burn off the little bit of extra weight that he’s carrying around. That’s not good news for Canelo, because he’s going to be giving up a lot of size against an in shape Chavez Jr. on May 6. If Chavez Jr. can back to the fighter he was in 2012, Canelo might suffer his second loss of his career.

“This is going to be a Great fight, their styles are perfect for each other and Mexicans should be proud of an event like this,” said Canelo’s promoter Oscar De L Hoya, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions.

If this fight backfires on Canelo and Golden Boy with him losing to Chavez Jr, then it’s going to be bad for his career. As big as Chavez Jr. looked today, he could win the fight.
Canelo had his share of the fans today, but many of them were rooting for Chavez Jr. His career is not in the same position that Canelo’s is due to a drop off in terms of quality opposition for the son of the Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez. Chavez Jr. could probably be just as popular as Canelo right now if he’d trained harder and taken on better quality fighters in the last five years.

This is supposed to be the fight that builds up Canelo’s fight against Gennady Golovkin in September. However, that fight is still very much in doubt right now. If Canelo and Golden Boy chose to instead fight other fighters in safe fights in 2017, it could erode a lot of his fan base, causing his pay-per-view numbers to continue to drop. Canelo’s PPV numbers have been dropping off since his fight against Amir Khan last May.

It’s unclear whether the Mexican boxing fans are proud of the match-up of Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. Some fans like the fight, while others see it as not the one they were asking Golden Boy for. Many of the fans have been asking Canelo and Golden Boy to make the fight against unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs), who Canelo vacated his WBC middleweight title to avoid in 2016. De La Hoya says he wants to match Canelo against Golovkin in September, but his flat fee offer of $15 million suggests otherwise. Thus far, Golden Boy is not giving Golovkin and his promoters at K2 Promotions the percentage deal that they’ve been asking for in the Canelo fight. They’re not being treated in a way that suggests that that Golden Boy is truly interested in making the Canelo-Golovkin fight.

There was a lot of energy from the boxing fans that came out to see Canelo and Chavez Jr. at the press tour today in Mexico City. Canelo looked like he meant business, as he stared holes through Chavez Jr. when the two of them were facing off. Chavez Jr. merely grinned at Canelo, as if he thought he was funny with the way he appeared to be trying to intimidate him with his stare down. Canelo will need to prove himself in the ring on May 6, because he’s not going to gain any edge by staring Chavez Jr. and trying to get him to cower and lose his nerve. That’s not the type of fighter Chavez Jr. is. He’s one of those guys that will go down trying.

“Some of you (the fans) don’t like me, some of you support me but the important thing is that this fight is for Mexico, Mexico deserves this kind of fight, it’s going to be a great one and I will prepare myself as I always do and we will see you May 6th,” said Canelo via Fight News. Canelo won over a lot of fans when he fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013, but his fights since then has hurt his image with a lot of the fans in the boxing world.

The fans that might not like Canelo right now were ones that probably would like him a great deal if he had stepped up and fought Golovkin last year, and if he’d fought the top fighters in the 154lb division like Demetrius Andrade and Jermall Charlo. You can argue that the match-making that Golden Boy has done in the last three years has cost Canelo a lot of boxing fans.
“We conceded at everything they wanted, every single detail, the fight is finally here and I am glad,” said Chavez Jr. “This fight is from Mexico and I am going to win.”

Chavez Jr. wasn’t in the position to bargain with Canelo and Golden Boy. They had him where they wanted to in the negotiations for the fight due to Chavez Jr. not having done much in his boxing career since his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Sergio Martinez in 2012. Chavez Jr. wouldn’t have gotten the fight against Canelo if he tried pushing hard in the negotiations. Canelo will have the edge in the purse for the fight with Chavez Jr.

There’s also the catch-weight of 164.5 lbs. that favors Canelo. Moreover, there’s a weight penalty of $1 million per pound. If either fighter comes in over the weight limit for the fight, then they’ll have to pay a lot. The weight penalty appears to be in place more for Chavez Jr. than Canelo, who has never fought at 160 and above in his entire career. Chavez Jr. has had problems making the 168 lb. weight limit in the last four years in failing to make weight three separate times. Chavez Jr. did make the 168lb limit for his last fight against Dominik Britsch last December, but he still didn’t fight like he was in the best of shape. Chavez Jr. fought like he was trying not to exhaust himself.

“The eyes of the world will be on this great fight, two Mexicans headlining a huge event in Las Vegas, so the world can testify what Mexicans can achieve and believe me… Even Donald Trump is going to be watching,” said Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez.

Canelo-Chavez Jr. is a good fight, but it’s still not a great one. It could be a much better fight if Chavez Jr. were able to turn his career around by fighting and beating one or two of the champions in the super middleweight division like IBF champ James DeGale and WBO champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez. It’s surprising that Chavez Jr. hasn’t fought for a world title since his loss to Sergio Martinez in 2012. Chavez Jr. should have challenged for a title by now.

YouTube video

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour

Image: Chavez Jr. towers over Canelo at Mexico City press tour