Chavez Jr: This Fight Will Show Canelo To Stay in His Weight Class

By Miguel Rivera, photo by Hoganphotos.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) is looking to use his size and skill to wear down his country rival Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs), and send him dwindling back to the  junior middleweight division.

They are scheduled to fight on May 6th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

There is a catch-weight in place, with 164.5-pounds at the meeting ground. Chavez is coming down from the super middleweight limit of 168-pounds, which is where he staged his last fight in December.  Canelo, who never fought any higher than 155, is moving up from the junior middleweight division.

Canelo is using the fight with Chavez Jr. as a measuring stick for a planned move to the middleweight division. Chavez is going to do everything possible to make Canelo regret his decision to fight at a higher weight.

“This fight is to show Canelo that he’s in the wrong territory, that he needs to stay in his weight class … and it means I’m better than Canelo,” Chavez said to the Los Angeles Times. “Canelo thinks he’s one of the greatest, but, no, I am. The weight at the end of the night won’t matter as much as it will for me to show I have the skill and the tactics inside the ring to win.”

Chavez has struggled with weight over the years and fought as high as 172-pounds on more than one occasion. He expects no issues with weight in this instance.

“I’ve always made weight when it’s for a world title … the big fights,” Chavez said. “I get the criticism just because I am Senior’s son. For all the good I do, I feel it counts for half. And any of the bad is doubled because of the limelight that’s on me.”

“The Mexican people are very excited and very indecisive … this same thing used to happen with Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez in their prime — who’s the favorite?. It feels like they’re just waiting to see who wins to decide who they’ll follow.”