Canelo Alvarez vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr: Talks Continue, But Fight Still Unlikely

According to a report by Miguel Rivera and Ernesto Caballeros of notifight.com, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is indeed interested in a fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, but a catchweight is going to be hard to come by:

Chavez's promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, is asking for a catch-weight of 158, Golded Boy President Oscar De La Hoya is looking for a catch-weight of "156-pounds." Chavez, who barely made 160 for his title winning effort over Sebastian Zbik in June, gained 20-pounds after the weigh-in.

When Chavez pulled out of his September 17 date with Ronald Hearns with a cut on his knuckle from sticking it into a ceiling fan, the rumor was that it was far more to do with his weight. He looked far heavier than Hearns at their initial press conference, and after some delays by the WBC in releasing the 30-day weigh-in weights for both, Chavez was supposedly lighter than Hearns, which many had a very hard time buying, especially because he hadn't even worked with Alex Ariza, his strength and nutrition coach.

Weight issues are not new to Chavez. When his November 2009 fight with Troy Rowland was reversed to a no-contest, it's because Chavez tested positive for a diuretic. While that diuretic does serve as a masking agent for some performance-enhancing drugs, and that was what some worried about at the time, more likely given his problems with weight it was simply him trying to make weight. He ballooned in weight for the Zbik fight and didn't look healthy at the weigh-in.

Truth is, Chavez is probably, at best, a 168-pound fighter trying to boil himself down. Would a more disciplined guy with his frame make 160 easily? Perhaps, but he's not that guy, so why keep trying to force him into it?

Chavez isn't going to make 158. He's definitely not going to make 156. This fight isn't going to happen with a catchweight, unless it's, like, 163.

As for the fight itself, if it were to happen (let's entertain the thought), Alvarez says he'd like it at Azteca Stadium. It won't be there, because Top Rank and Golden Boy could probably squeeze a nice site fee out of the MGM Grand. It should be in Mexico, and everyone would still make a ton of money, but, y'know.

Alvarez hopes to fight again before the end of the year, while Chavez is tentatively set to fight Peter Manfredo Jr on HBO, November 19.