Julio Cesar Chavez Jr indefinitely suspended in Nevada and Arizona

Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn’s decision to plow ahead with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr for an ultimately meaningless and embarrassing spectacle in Phoenix looked bad enough before the fight and even worse after, but he can take solace in the fact that the story probably ends now, at least on his end.

The 34-year-old Chavez (51-4-1, 33 KO) has been indefinitely suspended by both the Nevada and Arizona commissions due to refusal to take a VADA drug test prior to his Dec. 20 fight in Phoenix with Daniel Jacobs.

Chavez had been suspended in Nevada pending a hearing for avoiding VADA testers ahead of the fight. The second generation fighter managed to get himself a pause on that and was cleared to go ahead with the fight in Phoenix against Jacobs, which had been originally planned for Vegas, where the commission refused the fight due to the suspension.

The fight itself will be best remembered for Chavez quitting after five rounds, which sent the fans at Talking Stick Resort Arena into a riotous frenzy, as garbage, drinks, and food rained down on everyone in or near the ring, and fights broke out in the audience, which had to be cleared out. Chavez had to be ushered out of the ring by security holding the round cards that the ring girls hold up as makeshift riot shields, and senior citizen actor Mickey Rourke helped provide extra protection for his fighting friend. So ended the much-hyped “Fight Season on DAZN” of 2019.

NSAC Executive Director Bob Bennett told ESPN.com that a judge has reviewed the Chavez case and “ruled in (their) favor,” and that Chavez’s current suspension will be reviewed on Aug. 5, when the commission will also take a look at Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller’s latest doping scandal.