by Carlos Boogs, Ryan Burton
Former three division world champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley believes Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) is far from an easy opponent for Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs).
The two Mexican superstar will collide on Cinco de Mayo weekend, Saturday, May 6 in a twelve round battle to be contested at a catch-weight of 164.5 pounds. The event will be produced and distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View.
Mosley fought Canelo back in May 2012 as the co-feature to Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto. In the third round, Canelo suffered a bad cut from an accidental clash of heads, but stayed focused and controlled Mosley to secure a lopsided twelve round decision win.
Chavez Jr. is much bigger than Canelo. He's fought as a high as 172, while Canelo has never fought any higher than 155. Last month, Chavez Jr. fought at the super middleweight limit of 168, while Canelo was at 154 in September.
Mosley has a feeling that size will indeed matter in this contest. The biggest question mark to most fans and critics, is whether or not Chavez Jr. will severely drain himself to make the weight. Chavez Jr. has not fought any lower than 167.5 since September 2012.
"Being that low [Chavez] might be in shape. I don't know, I think Chavez is too big. I think when Canelo makes 164 [the day before the fight], he goes up to 172 maybe [on the day of the fight] and Chavez Jr. could go to 190. It's a tough fight," Mosley said.
"I think Canelo has the better skills between them right now, and he's younger and he's hungry, he's sharp - but Chavez is the bigger guy. Maybe Canelo can outpoint him, because Chavez Jr. just kind of goes forward, so maybe Canelo can out-point him, but it's a tough fight because Chavez Jr. is much bigger and he knows how to get [inside]. It's just a tough fight."
By taking the fight at 164.5 - is Canelo making himself look bad? For much of last year, he refused to fight unified champion Gennady Golovkin at the full middleweight limit of 160.
Mosley places no blame on Canelo, and feels it was more of a team decision.
"I think he's picking his battles right now. I think maybe his team thinks he's not ready for the 160-pounder in Golovkin, but I'm sure Canelo is ready to get in there with Gennady, but they want to make it really, really big.... which that's fine too. Fighting Chavez Jr., that's a big fight and they are rivals in Mexico to be the top guy - that's going to be really good," Mosley said.
