Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Update: Hand Injury Confirmed by Manager

Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com reports that manager Billy Keane has confirmed a hand injury to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, which ... well, you judge for yourself:

"His hand was clipped by a ceiling fan. He went to the doctor and he had two to three stitches [to close the wound]. The doctor advised him not to fight, but Julio wanted to press on. He’s been training but he hasn’t been able to spar or really hit the bag but he’s been doing his groundwork. I went to Tijuana and I looked at the hand and it still looked very infected; it looked like it wasn’t healing right so I’m sending him to a doctor and we should know more in the next day or so," Keane told BoxingScene.com.

Mexican boxing reporter Salvador Rodriguez also said the fight is off.

Complicating matters is the fact that Chavez sparred with Antonio Margarito yesterday:

DiBella also commented on this to Reeno:

"Why didn’t he pull out two weeks ago? He suffered an injury two weeks ago and yesterday he was training with Margarito. Come on," DiBella said.

This is all a pretty big mess and I don't see anyone out there siding with Chavez right now, or believing the story. The fact is, there were strong rumors in Mexico that he was wildly out of shape and well overweight, with no chance to get down to 160 in time for the September 17 fight. This fight was crap from the minute it was signed, but you still have to kind of feel for Hearns, even if he didn't really earn a title shot. I mean, what's it matter? Chavez didn't really earn the title, either.

Chavez still has a date back on HBO on November 19, at least for now.