Chavez Jr.'s manager: 'He just grew into a different body'

By Mike Coppinger

LOS ANGELES --- It's another fight, another weight controversy for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. But manager Billy Keane says don't chalk it up to laziness on JCC Jr.'s part.

"He's trained the way he has for all his previous fights, he just grew into a different body in the year he was off and just wasn't able to get there in the way that he previously got there," Keane said. "Going forward, we have to really re-examine a different way of training, a different way of dieting, a longer camp and decide if he can get to 168 or below again."

Chavez previously has campaigned at 160 pounds, but this fight will be contested at a contract weight of 173 pounds, just two notches south of the light heavyweight limit.

"He struggles with the weight," Keane said. "He's enormous. To get down to the weight he gets to, you see how sunken in and drawn he is, he's clearly not someone who didn't make an attempt. He's someone who struggled and lost a lot of weight."

"Every fighter that has a long career will tell you there comes a point in their career where their body simply doesn't do what it used to do. Julio got to that point. His body did not respond the way it responded."

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