By Edward Chaykovsky
Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32KOs) wants a crack at his countryman Gilberto Ramirez (34-0, 24KOs), who captured the WBO super middleweight title on Saturday night.
Ramirez made history by becoming the first Mexican fighter to capture a world title at 168-pounds with a twelve round unanimous decision over Arthur Abraham.
Chavez is looking to get a title shot at super middleweight and hopes to face Ramirez in the near future. Both boxers are from Sinaloa, Mexico.
A fight between Chavez and Ramirez has been talked about for some time. For a short period of time, they were both promoted by Top Rank. Chavez left Top Rank in 2014 and signed on with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions banner.
Although Chavez is targeting a world title at 168, he's failed to make the weight limit on several occasions. Since 2013, he's made the super middleweight limit only once. His last two fighters were contested above 170-pounds and there was talk at one point of a move to light heavyweight.
If Chavez can demonstrate that he can still make 168, then Arum is very interested in making that fight a reality for the fall. Chavez has been out of the ring since last July due to several injuries. He is expected to return in June and wants to fight at least two more times before the year is over.
"Of course we can do that fight, in fact we like that fight, but we want to make sure that he doesn't want to keep fighting at heavyweight," Arum said. "If he can prove that he can make 168 pounds, then that's certainly a good possibility for Zurdo. If [Chavez] wants to get his ass kicked, we'll make the fight."