By Miguel Rivera
Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32KOs) has issued a big warning to fellow Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (48-1-1, 34KOs).
The two boxers are discussing a catch-weight of 165-pounds. Canelo, who holds the WBO junior middleweight title, would move up from 154-pounds, while Chavez Jr. would come down from the super middleweight limit of 168.
The fight would headline an HBO Pay-Per-View event on May 6th. At the moment, the biggest issue with finalizing Chavez-Canelo is the money.
Chavez is very motivated for this fight and believes his team is finally in order with the addition of strength and conditioning coach Angel "Memo" Heredia.
As far as the early predictions from experts, Canelo is being labeled as the big favorite - even at 165 - because some of them believe Chavez Jr. will be too slow and others believe he will be a bit drained.
Chavez Jr. has vowed to make it a very hard and very rough night for Canelo.
"I think it's going to be a good year for me. In 2017, I will do things as I should have done things. I showed a lot of things [in my last fight] despite my inactivity. I made the weight, which was the main thing, because it shut a lot of mouths. There is a good chemistry [with strength and conditioning coach Angel Heredia]," Chavez Jr. told ESPN Deportes.
"I wasn't motivated with boxing, but when I have been is when I've really wanted to beat someone. The only one that beat me is [Sergio] Martinez. I believe that is the only real defeat that I've had. My other one [to Fonfara], I don't really look at that because it wasn't at good moment in my career. So Canelo is going to have a difficult night like he's never had in his life."
