By Salvador Rodriguez

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31KOs) admits that he stuggled a little bit to make the middleweight limit. On Saturday night, Chavez makes the second defense of his WBC middleweight championship. Chavez, who scaled in at 159.5 pounds, will take on mandatory challenger Marco Antonio ‘Veneno’ Rubio (53-5-1, 46KOs), who weighed 159.

There was a minor delay before Chavez stepped on the scale to make weight. The delay was caused by Chavez's struggle to shave off the final pound. When he finally stepped on the scale, Chavez was forced to fully undress in order to meet required limit.

"We're fine, but the last pound was difficult. We made the weight and tomorrow everything is going to be alright. I'll be stronger and faster than Rubio. Tomorrow I want to demostrate why I’m the champion," Chavez told BoxingScene.com.

Rubio, despite being a 4-1 underdog, has vowed to come out with a lot pressure from the opening bell and he promises to secure the victory by knockout.

"I'm going out with pressure from the start. I feel very strong. I waited so long to get this opportunity and tomorrow I’ll get this belt and bring it back home," said Rubio.

Although most of the fans in attendence were expressing their support for the champion, a small of group of fans were firmly behind the challenger.

Salvador Rodriguez cover boxing in Mexico for The Record.