By Miguel Rivera

This coming Saturday night, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs), a former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion, will be in the ring for the first time since July of 2015 and will be fighting in his native Mexico for the first time since January of 2011.

Chavez suffered a bad hand injury in his last fight, a ten round decision win over Marcos Reyes. He underwent to two surgical procedures and had to rehab the hand for the remainder of last year and the early part of 2016.

He takes on German contender Dominik Britsch (32-2-1, 11 KOs), who won six of his last seven fights and should be a good test to see where the Mexican boxer is at.

Chavez's head trainer and uncle, Rodolfo Chavez, believes the Julio of old will return this weekend.

Chavez has really watched his weight this time and he's close to the super middleweight limit of 168-pounds - where in the past he would be 20 pounds over the limit and went through insane routines to cut weight on fight week.

His goal is get a big fight in 2017 - and one of the names at the top of his list is middleweight king Gennady Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs). There were serious talks to make that fight in 2014, but their negotiations fell apart when Chavez became involved in a legal dispute with his former promoter, Top Rank. 

"We are aware that a lot of time has been lost in the career of Julio Jr. I told him that he left a position in boxing that others have taken away, so this fight is important - because he has a lot to prove. He needs to fight, win and convince people. I have no doubt that if he continues [on a good path], he is going to get the big fights that everyone wants for him," Rodolfo told ESPN Deportes.

"He mentioned Golovkin, it is a tough fight because he's a strong fighter. But if Julio is well prepared, and watches the weight... because look, the problem that Julio has always had has been the weight - because the day before the weigh-in he would always squeeze down and now that will be the difference, and he will rise stronger [when he steps in the ring]. Golovkin is good, but if Julio is well prepared he can beat anyone, including GGG."