By Jim Dower: Julio Cesar Chavez says former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. WON’T be fighting Sergio ‘Maravilla’ Martinez in a rematch on November 17 after all, but he will be fighting in the co-feature bout on the December 1st Showtime PPV card headlined by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury on Showtime PPV at the Stables Center in Los Angeles, California, according to Fight News.
Having the depleted looking Chavez Jr. fighting as the chief support for Wilder-Fury is a questionable move if it’s indeed true that he’ll be fighting in that position on the card. Chavez Jr. hasn’t fought in a year since his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to Saul Canelo Alvarez last year in May 2017, and he was terrible in that fight. Chavez Jr. hasn’t won a fight against a high caliber opponent in six years since beating Andy Lee by a 7th round knockout in June 2012 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. Since that win, Chavez Jr. has lost to Canelo, Andrzej Fonfara and Sergio Martinez. His wins have come against low level opposition in Brian Vera, Marcos Reyes and Dominik Britsch.
Boxing great Chavez has said recently that his son 32-year-old Chavez Jr. (50-3-1, 32 KOs) would be facing the currently retired 43-year-old Sergio Martinez (51-3-2, 28 KOs) on November 17. However, it now looks as if that fight is NOT going to be happening after all. Matchroom Boxing USA/DAZN promoter Eddie Hearn said that there is no deal for a Chavez Jr. vs. Martinez fight. Chavez Jr. lost to Martinez by a 12 round unanimous decision in September 2012. Unforunately for Chavez, Martinez suffered a knee injury in that fight which shortened his career. Martinez retired two fights later after being knocked out by Miguel Cotto in 2014.
“Julio won’t fight against Maravilla Martinez. There will be no fight between them. Julio will fight in the co-main event of Wilder vs. Fury on December 1st,” said Chavez Sr. via Fight News.
With the names and the fights that have been rumored to be taking place on the Wilder-Fury card, it’s hard to believe Chavez Jr. will make it on the televised portion of the card at all. The rumored fights for the Wilder vs. Fury card as follows:
– Leo Santa Cruz vs. Gary Russell Jr.
– Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Abner Mares
If those two fights are on Wilder-Fury card on December 1, then it’s highly unlikely that Chavez Jr. will wind up in the co-feature spot on the card.
Having Chavez Jr. in the co-feature is a potentially a bad idea for the promoters for the Wilder vs. Fury fight. Chavez Jr. being the first fight of the PPV card wouldn’t be a bad idea, but not the chief support right before the main event. That’s a bad idea. It could potentially hurt the card if Chavez Jr. puts in the kind of performance he did in his loss to Canelo. That was a non-effort by Chavez Jr. in the way that he didn’t seem to be mentally there on the night.