By Radio Rahim
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach revealed to BoxingScene.com that former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32KOs) has already bailed from training at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California.
Chavez Jr. was training for a potential on August 27th against J'Leon Love (22-1, 12 KO's), at a venue in California. The weight was reportedly going to be a catch-weight of 170-pounds.
In late May, Chavez reunited with Roach for the first time since their split in 2012, and they began training hard at the Wild Card Gym.
Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs) has been away from the ring since July 2015, when he badly injured his hand during a ten round decision victory over Marcos 'Dorado' Reyes in El Paso, Texas. The injury required surgery and prevented him from fighting for the remainder of last year.
Chavez was slated to return earlier this year in a world title fight against WBC super middleweight king Badou Jack. Chavez withdrew from the planned April date after suffering an injury to his left heel in training camp. He started off the year with trainer Robert Garcia, who helped prepare him for the fight with Reyes, but then Chavez made the switch to Roach once the Jack fight was officially off.
At this point, Roach doesn't believe Chavez Jr. is going to fight in the near future and has no idea what Chavez Jr. is planning.
"He had a lot of pressure on him [when training here] and he didn't like it, so he said that he's going to train at home for a while, and I said that's ok. So I don't think that he's going to fight at this moment. My next fight after [Crawford-Postol] will be with my new guy [Jesus] Cuellar," Roach told BoxingScene.com.
"I'm trying to bring back the old guy who never said no to me once in four fights and I haven't found that guy yet. I do like him as a person and I do want to help him if I can, but there is only so much that I can do. If he doesn't come here then there is nothing I can do."
