Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. J'Leon Love Heads To July 30th?

By Miguel Rivera

According to former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32KOs), his next fight - possibly against J'Leon Love (22-1, 12 KO's) - is heading to a date of July 30th.

Early last month, Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach mentioned Love as the frontrunner to face Chavez Jr. on July 16th or July 23rd. In late May, Chavez reunited with Roach for the first time since their split in 2012. They are currently training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California.

One of the frontrunners mentioned over the last few weeks has been Gabe Rosado, but Chavez's handlers went in another direction after Rosado barely got past Antonio Gutierrez last month at the StubHub Center in Carson. Rosado went down and won a razor thin ten round unanimous decision.

Chavez Jr. told ESPN Deportes that his return has a tentative date of July 30th, and while Love is being mentioned as the leading candidate to fight him, there has not been confirmation of that to Chavez.

Love has won four fights in a row since getting knocked out by Rogelio Medina in three rounds in August of 2014.

This upcoming fight would be the first for Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs) since July 2015, when he badly injured his hand during a ten round decision victory over Marco 'Dorado' Reyes in El Paso, Texas.

Chavez was slated to return earlier this year in a world title fight against WBC super middleweight king Badou Jack. Chavez withdrew from the planned April date after suffering an injury to his left heel in training camp. He was later replaced by former IBF champion Lucian Bute who went to a controversial twelve round draw with Jack.