by David P. Greisman
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will likely move up to the super middleweight division after this weekend’s middleweight title defense against Andy Lee, according to Chavez’s trainer, Freddie Roach, speaking Friday in an ESPN.com chat.
“After this fight, we’ll probably go to 168,” Roach said.
Chavez, 26, has been at middleweight since November 2009. He began his career as a teenager fighting between junior lightweight and junior middleweight from 2003 through 2005, moving up in weight as he got older.
He’s reportedly had difficulty making the 160-pound weight limit of late. In February, after weighing in at 159.5 pounds for his bout with Marco Antonio Rubio, he entered the ring the next night at 181 pounds.
This time, Roach said, “We [had] the weight come down a lot earlier.”
Roach said he’d take a fight with Kelly Pavlik next, but he also said they are “willing and ready” for a bout against middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter at twitter.com/fightingwords2 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fightingwordsboxing, or send questions and comments to fightingwords1@gmail.com