By Keith Idec
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s technical knockout loss to Andrzej Fonfara clearly hasn’t hurt his confidence.
“When I fight at my weight, I can beat anybody,” Chavez said Thursday while discussing his July 18 fight against fellow Mexican Marcos Reyes. “There’s nobody in boxing who can beat me when I fight at my weight. I feel this is the best part of my career and on July 18th I’m gonna win.”
The Chavez-Reyes fight will mark Chavez’s return from his TKO loss to Chicago’s Fonfara on April 18 at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. Chavez (48-2-1, 32 KOs, 1 NC) claims fighting Fonfara (27-3, 16 KOs, 1 NC) at a catch weight of 172 pounds was a mistake and that he still can win at the championship level as a super middleweight.
Fonfara, a light heavyweight contender from Poland, dropped Chavez with a left hook late in the ninth round and made him quit on his stool shortly thereafter. The 29-year-old former WBC middleweight title-holder has since moved down to super middleweight and changed trainers again, from Joe Goossen back to Robert Garcia.
His 10-round fight against Reyes (33-2, 24 KOs) will headline Showtime’s telecast July 18 from the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.