Marquez: Chavez Jr. Must First Defeat The Weight, Then Canelo

By Miguel Rivera

Former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez believes Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs) will have a tough time squeezing down in weight for his finalized fight against countryman Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) on May 6th.

The two boxers reached an agreement last Friday to battle it out on HBO Pay-Per-View, and the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas or AT&T Stadium in Texas will play host.

The fight will take place at a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds. Canelo will come up from 154-pounds, where he holds the WBO junior middleweight title. And Chavez Jr. will come down from the super middleweight limit of 168-pounds. According to Chavez, there is a contract clause that will cost him a $1 million for every pound that he's over.

Marquez is not sure how Chavez Jr. will do in the fight, because the 'Son of a Legend' has had a lot of trouble making weight for several of his fights in recent years.  

"The important thing is to see how [Chavez Jr.] will lose weight and shape up. With Canelo Alvarez, it's not going to cost him a lot of work to get up to 164.5 pounds. For Chavez, it will cost him a little more work to lose weight," Marquez told 'Sport Center.'

"The important factor will be in favor of  Canelo Alvarez, because he has no problem in making the weight. Now the problem is for Chavez Junior, because he has to go down and when you have to lose weight it is difficult. We have to see the way that he does it and whether or not he will be weak in the fight against Canelo, who seems to have the advantage in boxing terms."

"I think [weight] is the first opponent Chavez Jr. has to beat, he has to overcome the scale. And doing that is based on discipline, based on a lot of training and that is where Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. tends to fail. Being disciplined and being trained day by day is what he should be doing. I think if he gets into training and gets into what he should be doing... strong training, a rigorous diet... he will not have any problems with making the weight."

"We have to see how he does it, because he's not accustomed to training all the time, he doesn't have a fixed time to go running, to train. I think he will have a lot of problems in making the weight... but if he trains in a responsible manner and with a lot of discipline - he will not have problems [making weight] and he will arrive in great condition to give a great fight against Canelo."