By Keith Idec
Canelo Alvarez didn’t hesitate Tuesday to continue his war of words with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Alvarez acknowledged during a conference call to promote their May 6 fight that he thinks he can make his Mexican rival quit. A reporter asked Alvarez if he thinks that’s a possibility because Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez’s promoter, made Chavez’s father quit in their rematch and because Chavez Jr. himself quit against Andrzej Fonfara.
“Everything’s possible in boxing,” Alvarez said through a translator. “And as the great Bernard Hopkins once said, once a quitter, always a quitter. So anything’s possible.”
Chavez Jr. told referee Jerry Cantu he didn’t want to continue following the ninth round of his April 2015 fight against Fonfara, who dropped Chavez in the ninth round at StubHub Center in Carson, California. His legendary father quit on his stool against De La Hoya after the eighth round of their rematch in September 1998 in Las Vegas.
De La Hoya, who stopped Chavez in the fourth round of their first fight two years earlier, was winning their rematch on all three scorecards when Chavez declined to continue at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. Chavez was 36 the second time he fought De La Hoya, who was 25.
Even if Alvarez can’t make Chavez quit in their HBO Pay-Per-View main event, he thinks it’s likely he’ll win by knockout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“There’s a very high percentage that this fight could end by knockout because of our styles, because of the weight, because of the size of each other,” Alvarez said. “And, you know, obviously a knockout is spectacular for the fighters, for the fans. We’ll see what’s gonna happen come the fight. And we’re gonna give it a hundred percent to do everything possible to give the fans what they want.”
The 26-year-old Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) and the 31-year-old Chavez (50-2-1, 32 KOs, 1 NC) will meet at a contracted catch weight of 164½ pounds, nearly 10 pounds above the highest weight at which Alvarez has competed during his 11-year professional career (155 pounds).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
