By Dan Ambrose: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr targets a fight against IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin in 2021, and he feels it’s a match that would work out well in both of their favor. There was a possibility of them fighting years ago, but nothing ever came of it.
Chavez Jr would need Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) to come up to light heavyweight to face him for a fight between them to happen.
Chavez Jr can’t be counted on to trim down to 168 and definitely not 160. That would never happen. Chavez’s jabs of fighting at middleweight ended in 2012 in his match against Sergio Martinez.
Golovkin would likely have to fight Chavez Jr at 175
In Chavez’s last three fights, he’s fought at light-heavyweight. So even if the negotiations are for the fight to take place at 168, that would be a good chance that Chavez Jr wouldn’t be able to make the weight. Six out of Chavez Jr’s last nine fights have taken place at light-heavyweight.
Chavez Jr (51-5-1, 33 KOs) would appear to be completely off of the 38-year-old Golovkin’s radar after his consecutive losses to Mario Abel Cazares and Danel Jacobs in his last two fights. Additionally, Chavez, 34, has been beaten by Canelo Alvarez and Andrzej Fonfara in the last five years.
Last September, Chavez was beaten by the little known Cazares by a sixth-round technical decision in Tijuana, Mexico. The fight was stopped in the sixth round because Chavez Jr had suffered a cut over his left eye from a head-butt earlier in the fight. The fight then went to the cards, and Cazares won.
“I think a good fight for the next year would be against Gennady Golovkin, I think it would be a good fight,” Chavez Jr said to El Debate. “It would serve us both a lot, we hope it can be given.”
If you take Chavez Jr seriously, he’s not any worse than Golovkin fighting Kamil Szeremeta. That fight is just as much of a mismatch against Golovkin-Chavez would be.
GGG expected to face Canelo in 2021
Golovkin wants to fight Canelo Alvarez in a trilogy match in the first half of 2021. Other than that, Golovkin hasn’t said who he wants to fight. You have to imagine that if GGG beats Canelo, then there will be a rematch.
Since the fight with Canelo will likely be held at 168, that means that Golovkin’s IBF 160lb title will stay in his possession if he loses. Once the Canelo fight is done, Golovkin will return to middleweight and probably start defending the belt against the IBF rankings’ contenders.
Aside from fighting Canelo, it’s unknown what Golovkin wants to do with the remainder of his contract with DAZN. It will be a shame if Golovkin milks the last part of his contract by fighting Szeremeta types of low-level fights against guys with limited talent.
Golovkin will take a lot of criticism from boxing fans if he elects to fight Chavez Jr, but he’s about to receive a lot of heat for fighting Szeremeta on November 21st.
Realistically, Chavez Jr has almost no chance of getting a fight against Golovkin because there’s no demand for that fight. Again, it would require that Golovkin be flexible about the weight. He would almost surely need to put up with Chavez Jr coming into the fight in the low 170s.