Canelo says Chavez Jr. could quit in the ring on May 6

By Boxing News - 04/11/2017 - Comments

YouTube video

By Jeff Aranow: Saul Canelo Alvarez isn’t ruling out another quit job by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. like he did in his fight against Andrzej Fonjara in losing by a 9th round stoppage on April 18, 2015. Chavez Jr. quit on his stool after being knocked down in the 9th. Canelo (48-1-1, 34 KOs) thinks that the 30-year-old Chavez Jr. could do something similar when the two of them face each other on May 6 on HBO pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Canelo said this via ESPN:

“As the great Bernard Hopkins said, once a quitter, always a quitter, so anything is possible,” said Canelo.

I don’t think Chavez Jr. is going to give Canelo the pleasure of watching him quit on May 6. Chavez Jr. would rather go out on his shield in this fight than to allow Canelo to see him quit. That’s not to say that Chavez Jr’s trainer Nacho Beristain won’t pull him out of the fight if he gets badly hurt, but I don’t think he’s going to quit. Chavez Jr. will keep fighting hard until the bitter end. He’s going to make it really tough on Canelo for the entire fight.

It’s not really fair to Chavez Jr. for Canelo to be pointing out a loss for him at a low point in his boxing career. Chavez Jr. seemed to lose his motivation in his career following his loss to Sergio Martinez. It’s not like Chavez Jr. fought Fonfara during his best years of his career. By the time Chavez Jr. fought Fonfara, he was no longer training hard, and he had lost his way in his once promising career. Most fighters wouldn’t have agreed to fight a guy like Fonfara without a hard training camp and prior experience against other light heavyweights.

Chavez Jr. made a mistake of accepting the fight with the big 6’2” Polish fighter without adequate preparation. It would be the same thing with Canelo if he were to let himself go, gain a bunch of weight, and decide that he wants to fight someone like Artur Beterbiev. I think Canelo is a good fighter, but he wouldn’t do well against a guy like Beterbiev if he hadn’t gone through a hard training camp first and if he didn’t get experience at the light heavyweight level. Even if Canelo did, I think Beterbiev would still destroy him. That’s what Chavez Jr. was up against in going up to light heavyweight without being physically and mentally prepared for that move.

“I think a lot of his fans are more his father’s fans. Not a good role model for the young children or young fighters,” said Canelo about Chavez Jr. in taking a swipe at him about his father, boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez being more famous to the fans than his son.

It’s a given that Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. is more famous than his son. It’s not worth pointing out. Chavez Jr. hasn’t had the same dedication to boxing that his father had. That’s not news to anyone. Chavez Jr. didn’t have the same hard upbringing that Chavez had, and I don’t think he ever put in the same kind of hard work. It’s good that Chavez Jr. is working hard for his May 6th fight against Canelo, but he should have done that for years ago rather than waiting to this point to work hard.

That’s why a lot of boxing fans aren’t giving Chavez Jr. much of a chance to beat Canelo. Chavez Jr. hasn’t put himself through a series training camp since his fight with Andy Lee in 2012. Chavez Jr. might have even cut corners in training for that fight as well. He definitely didn’t train hard for his fight with Sergio Martinez in 2012.
Canelo be staying at 160 from now on, according to Rafael.

“He makes it official: After the fight with Chavez, @Canelo says he will stay at 160 pounds going forward. Canelo-Chavez #boxing,” said Rafael.

I don’t think there’s much point in Canelo trying to get back down to 154 after the Chavez Jr. fight. There’s no one to fight in that weight class other than welterweights that Canelo pulls up in weight like he’s done in the past. Canelo is not going to be able to have kind of reputation if he were to stay at 154 and fight weaker guys like Liam Smith and fighters like Amir Khan. Canelo has to move to 160 and face Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and Jermall Charlo. I don’t know if Canelo will fight all of those guys, but he needs to if he moves to that weight. Just fighting Golovkin and avoiding Charlo and Jacobs will make Canelo look like he’s ducking younger guys. Those are fighters that are still in their prime of their careers. Canelo has to fight them if he’s to stay at 160.

As big as Canelo is looking right now, he might need to think about soon moving up to 168 to campaign as a super middleweight. I don’t think he’s going to be able to take weight off to get down to 160 for too long before he starts to drain himself. The good thing about Canelo eventually moving up to super middleweight is the lack of names in the weight class. The 168lb division is empty of talent right now. There’s really no one in that weight class to worry Canelo.