By Miguel Rivera
The Mexican mega-fight between Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (48-1-1, 34KOs) and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32KOs) will either get made or fall apart by next week.
The fight would headline an HBO Pay-Per-View event on May 6th. At the moment, the biggest issue with finalizing Chavez-Canelo is the money.
There would be a catch-weight involved of 165-pounds. Canelo, who holds the WBO junior middleweight title, would move up from 154-pounds, while Chavez Jr. would come down from the super middleweight limit of 168.
Canelo's promoter, Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez, hopes the fight gets finalized, and says a decision will be made on Canelo's next fight in the coming days.
"We want to make the fight with Chavez. Next week we will make a decision. The discussions are going well and we will continue talking," said Gomez.
"What I can say right now is that there is still no fight. We are working hard and making every possible effort [to get the fight done]. It is the fight that Canelo wants, we are in talks and we will see what happens. We will speak again today and continue until we have a yes."
Chavez Jr. has already vowed to make it a very hard and very rough night for Canelo.
"I wasn't motivated with boxing, but when I have been is when I've really wanted to beat someone. The only one that beat me is [Sergio] Martinez. I believe that is the only real defeat that I've had. My other one [to Fonfara], I don't really look at that because it wasn't at good moment in my career. So Canelo is going to have a difficult night like he's never had in his life," Chavez Jr. told ESPN Deportes.
If the fight falls through, Canelo does have a backup option of challenging WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. Last week the sanctioning body made Canelo the mandatory challenger to the belt.
