Bernard Hopkins: Chavez Has More Pressure Than Canelo

By Ryan Burton

We are about a month away from the May 6th HBO pay-per-view showdown that pits two-division champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (48-1-1) against former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1).  The action takes place at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas strip.

The fighters will meet at a catch-weight of 164.5 pounds with Canelo moving up 10.5 pounds and Chavez Jr. moving down from the full 168 pound super middleweight weight limit.

Golden Boy Promotions stakeholder and future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins believes that when it is all said and done, that the pressure is actually on Chavez because he has so much to gain with a victory over Alvarez.

Hopkins feels that a win over arguably the sport's most popular fighter can erase Chavez's previous setbacks in a lot of people's minds.

"I think (Canelo) will get enough credit especially because this is a fight where he will have to dig deep down. This is a fight about pride and I think Chavez is going to have a lot more to fight for just because of the guy who is in front of him. This is for Mexican pride. This is for, 'I am the guy not you. I want my country's attention to be on me and not you.'  There is going to be a lot of not actually jealousy - but envy on who is going to be the face going forward in a really supportive culture," Hopkins told BoxingScene.com.

"There is a lot on the line here but Canelo has to be aware of these factors that can make a guy like Chavez (previously) fight one way and now come in and fight a way where he hired a nutrition coach, he hired people to get him physically ready so that automatically tells anyone that he is coming here to win. "

"There is a lot of pressure on both of them but there is more pressure, I believe, on Chavez to be able to make his plan work to be victorious.  This would erase his defeats in a way, not off his record of course, but in people's minds.  This fight is big. It is a big step forward where people would forget about when he didn't come out for a fight and quit on the stool. That would get erased [Hopkins was referencing Chavez's April 2015 knockout loss to Andrzej Fonfara when Chavez failed to answer the bell for the 10th round after getting knocked down in the previous round for the first time in his career].

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