"I worked 15 years to get to this fight and after Saturday night, I'll be the man - the first to beat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr," said Ray Sanchez at Top Rank's 'Latin Fury' press conference on Monday in Los Angeles.
"Am I ready for a fight like this? We're going to find out Saturday night," Chavez Jr said.
"Who will win? I really don't know," said Bob Arum. "That's why we're having such tremendous fan interest and that's why it's such a hot ticket in Albuquerque."
Chavez Jr., 33-0-1, takes on hometown hero Sanchez on a Top Rank PPV fight card at the Tingley Coliseum. The advance box office is the biggest of any Top Rank fight card in Albuquerque.
"This is the biggest fight in the city in 10 years," Sanchez said. "We haven't seen this kind of excitement since Johnny Tapia and Danny Romero were in the ring."
Sanchez will be the hardest puncher who Chavez Jr has ever faced.
"I'm going right at him, not holding anything back. This is everything I dreamed about, getting him in the ring in my hometown," Sanchez said. "I will beat Chavez - take it to the bank."
"We both want to win," Chavez Jr said. "He wants to win. I want to win. I trained hard and I will beat Sanchez."
It was announced that JC's father, four-time world champion Julio Cesar Chavez, will be coming into Albuquerque on Wednesday which is the day of the final press conference.
Arum also announced that Michael Clark, 36-4, of Columbus, Ohio will take on Mike Alvarado, 18-0, of Denver in the opening PPV bout. Alvarado was initially scheduled to take on Henry Bruseles but he came down with a fever and was not able to train. Alvarado vs. Clark is scheduled for 10 rounds and will be the first bout on the PPV telecast.
Lupe Contreras will be the ring announcer on fight night. The announcing team on the PPV telecast will be Rich Marotta, Genaro 'Chicanito' Hernandez and Doug Fischer.
