This Saturday night in Las Vegas we will see the massive Battle of Mexico, between stars Saul Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. All of Mexico will be watching, but last night, in a much smaller fight down at 154, the brothers of Canelo and Chavez Jr. fought a rematch of their 2014 fight.
And it was a case of 1-0 to Team-Chavez, as Omar Chavez, 35-3-1(23) avenged his earlier points loss to Alvarez, 24-5-2(16) with a surprising 2nd round TKO stoppage win. Chavez proved way too powerful and aggressive for Alvarez this time around, hurting his man in the 2nd and jumping right on him to force the stoppage. The official time was 2.05 of round two.
The very real buzz is now upon us regarding the massive Cinco de Mayo showdown of May 6. Chavez Jr, the former WBC middleweight king, has trained like never before, is focused like never before and he is full of belief that he will win the 164.5 pound catch-weight clash. Canelo is a pretty big favourite, but going up in weight as he is, maybe, just maybe, he will struggle with the physical strength and power of his countryman.
This Saturday’s fight will hopefully keep the great momentum boxing has going right now, as hyped as we all are over last night’s great heavyweight rumble between new star Anthony Joshua and future Hall of Famer Wladimir Klitschko. The sport is in a great place right now, and with Chavez-Canelo, Kell Brook-Errol Spence, Tyson Fury’s planned return and other things all coming, 2017 could prove to be a truly special year.
Who wins on Saturday, Canelo or Chavez? Put it this way, unlike last night’s fight in Mexico, this one will not end inside a couple of rounds. In fact, we could see a great fight that is so good it demands a rematch; maybe even a trilogy. Last night’s battle was special (and there really is nothing like a big, big world heavyweight title fight) and Canelo-Chavez could also prove to be something memorable.