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Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on weight issues: 'I have problems' making 160

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr sounds like he intends to get back to the middleweight division soon, but admits he has issues making the 160-pound limit.

Bob Levey

With a fight against Brian Vera on HBO coming in just under two months, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr's weight has been a topic of discussion lately, as the 27-year-old star looked very heavy last weekend attending his brother Omar Chavez's fight in Mexico.

His fight with Vera will be fought with a 165-pound catchweight so that Chavez doesn't have to burn all the way down to 160, but even still, there are serious questions about whether or not he can ever get back to 160 in a healthy fashion. Last year against Sergio Martinez, he clearly didn't train right, and though he made weight for the fight, was sluggish for 11 rounds before throwing everything he had into a dramatic 12th and final round, where he nearly stole the win from Martinez with a big offensive attack.

Chavez (46-1-1, 32 KO) admits that he "has problems" getting to 160, but apparently has no solutions:

"I have problems, everyone knows that I have to take care of myself and go through a very strict diet and work very hard in order to make 160 pounds."

It's, like, I mean, you know, yeah. That's true. That thing he said there is very true. He has problems. Everyone knows he has to take care of himself. Which he generally does not. Everyone knows he has to go through a very strict diet and work very hard to make 160, which he did not do the last time he tried, and he's had problems doing it before. This is a series of facts he has stated. It doesn't really mean he's going to change anything, though. I mean, it's just a thing he said. "I have trouble making 160." Yes.

Chavez says that after Vera, he's willing to get back to 160 and face Marco Antonio Rubio again, a rematch that the WBC has ordered for the interim middleweight title, which at least sort of makes sense existing this time, with champ Sergio Martinez on the shelf until next year. It doesn't make sense that Rubio would be fighting for the belt again, as wins over Jorge Cota, the rusted frame of Carlos Baldomir, Michel Rosales, and Marcus Upshaw haven't exactly made Rubio a hot name in the division again, but for whatever reason, the WBC loooooves Rubio (and Chavez for clearer reasons), so that's what we have going on right now.

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