Badou Jack Says Chavez Jr. Defense is Possible For April 30

By Per Ake Persson

WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (20-1-1, 12KOs) is back in home Stockholm, Sweden, for a brief visit before heading to his other home country, Gambia, where his father comes from. Jack told STV (public service TV) that the defense against Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr, might go ahead April 30 but is not a done deal yet.

Jack is one of the nominees for Male Athlete of the Year and will on Monday be on hand at the Globe Arena when the awards are handed out. Badou is the first male boxer to be named in this category.

Jack was last in the ring in September 2015, when he won a twelve round split decision over mandatory challenger George Groves. The bout took place on undercard to the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Andre Berto pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Chavez had one of the worst years of his career in 2015. After a long layoff, he moved up by two weight divisions last April to light heavyweight and was being trained by coach Joe Goossen. Things did not go as planned when he was dominated and knocked out in nine rounds by Andrzej Fonfara. Then he returned in July, now with Robert Garcia as head trainer, and won a lackluster decision over Marcos Reyes.

It was revealed after the Reyes bout that Chavez had suffered a severe hand injury. After some rehab on the hand, the injury became more serious and he was forced to undergo surgery that kept him out of the ring for the remainder of the year.

Both Chavez and Jack traveled to the WBC's annual convention late last year and sanctioning body president Mauricio Sulaiman gave his blessing if the two boxers decided to fight each other this year - since Jack is now in the period where he can make a voluntary defense.