Chavez vs Vera rematch likely for March 1, says Arum

After a fight that nobody but the ringside judges saw Julio Cesar Chavez Jr winning on September 28, Top Rank's Bob Arum is working on a rematch between Chavez and Bryan Vera for March 1, 2014, with the fight once again airing on HBO.

Arum says he was trying to put it together for February, but HBO isn't interested in putting on fights against the Winter Olympics. If there's one thing I know, it's that the Winter Olympics and boxing have big crossover demographics, and a Chavez-Vera fight that comes on sometime around 11 pm could be significantly damaged ratings-wise by whether or not someone is figure and/or speed skating at the moment.

Chavez (47-1-1, 32 KO) plans to campaign at 168 pounds from now on, but it remains to be seen if he'll dedicate himself enough to actually make that weight in a healthy fashion. The 173-pound catchweight for the fight with Vera was the third or fourth weight that the fight had in place, because Chavez kept finding himself unable or unwilling to make the previously agreed-upon limits. The fight was also postponed for three weeks at one point, ostensibly due to a minor injury on Chavez, but many believe it was due to his being out of shape.

Vera (23-7, 14 KO) won that fight 97-93 on the BLH scorecard, and was the winner on 53 of 59 press scores collected by Bobby Hunter. The other six had it a draw. Nobody had Chavez winning the fight, but ringside judges saw it 96-94, 97-93, and 98-92 in his favor.