By Rene Umanzor
Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (47-1-1, 32KOs) has officially walked away from the middleweight division, according to Mauricio Sulaiman, the Executive Secretary of the WBC. While most expected him to stay at 168 after struggling to make the super middleweight limit for his controversial win over Bryan Vera in September. The weight limit had to be increased to 173-pounds a few days before the fight.
After the Vera fight, Chavez claimed that he was still capable of getting down to 160 for the big names, but that is now a thing of the past. Chavez is now targeting the WBC champion at 168 - Sakio Bika.
"We have received information that Chavez Jr. will remain at 168 pounds.....he is not registered as the official challenger in the division. He is located in the second position within the rankings, so he would have to make a fight against the number one [ranked contender] in order to challenge Bika," Sulaiman said.
Rene Umanzor covers boxing in Mexico for The Record.