By Miguel Rivera
On September 17 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) was crowned the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior middleweight champion by knocking undefeated Liam Smith of the UK in nine rounds.
His next fight will be far above that weight, as he rises to a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds, to collide with his countryman and fellow former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. who comes in with a record of 50 wins, 2 defeats, a draw with 32 knockouts.
Chavez Jr., who fought as high as 172, is also taking a risk by going down from 168. He's not weighed below 167.5-pounds since 2012.
Although there is not title from his organization at stake, WBO President Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel of Puerto Rico says his sanctioning body is fully backing this contest and plan to keep Canelo as their champion - regardless of the outome of the May contest.
"Canelo has our full support for the fight against Chavez Jr ... he (Saul Alvarez) has nine months to defend the 154-pound belt and we'll wait that long to decide what to do with the championship. So I do not see any problem for that fight, which is highly anticipated by all Mexicans and boxing fans," said Valcárcel to Jose Castellanos.
And Paco has no issue with the agreed-upon weight limit. Obviously he gives his world champion the edge in coming away victorious in the fight.
"It is an arrangement between them and you just have to support them and see that this fight will be tremendous. To us Puerto Ricans, we would like to see two Boricuas of that stature fight each other, but for now we don't have that possibility," Varcarcel said.
"Both Chavez Jr and Canelo are personal friends of mine, and we have an affection for both . But I think Saul (Alvarez) has a slight advantage to come out with the upper hand and win that contest to prove he's the best."
