Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr: Clash For Cash

On Saturday, May 6th live from Las Vegas, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KO) will take on the son of a Mexican boxing legend, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KO) in a catch-weight bout. It’s projected to be the highest earning fight for Alvarez on the heralded Cinco De Mayo weekend, a celebration for their victory over France in the Battle of Puebla in 1862 in the proud country of Mexico.

What has been promoted as a Mexican showdown is nothing more than a clash for cash and the exploitation of the true Mexican fight fan. There is nothing at stake from any sanctioning body; no belt or no potential future title fight between the two for multiple reasons. Boxing fans are reminded of the trickery that truly surrounds the making of pay-per-view fights (PPV). If this were set to be a true battle for Mexican pride, why not give the fans a true non catch-weight title fight? We all know, as fight fans, that the WBC wanted in on this action by offering a special belt for this meaningless fight.

The problem there is Alvarez already vacated his WBC middleweight belt by avoiding Gennady Golovkin as his mandatory defense fight stating he wanted to avoid the sanctioning fees and obligations. Now with all that in mind, how much would true global fight fans want to see a Golovkin vs Alvarez mega fight for the lineal and possibly the undisputed middleweight championship of the world? Alvarez is absolutely a cash-cow and will bring 800,000 viewers alone as a low-balling number. So expect this fight to do well around the 1.2 million buy range. Loyal fight fans of the 2017 resurgence of the sport of boxing deserves better for $70 from HBO PPV.

Their second PPV (Golovkin vs Jacobs) of the year with another PPV coming next month for the Ward vs. Kovalev rematch and we haven’t even been given the true fall fight schedule yet! Fight fans, get your side hustle on and find some boxing friends as HBO PPV will surely be breaking your bank this year.

In retrospect of this holiday weekend, other Mexican fighters should have been awarded this fight date. Understandingly from a business prospective, they will not come near this amount of earnings. A fighter such as undefeated southpaw Mexican, Gilberto Ramirez (35-0, 25 KO) at 168 lbs, would be and could potentially be a huge fight in the future given that both Ramirez and Alvarez are in their prime and under 30 with Ramirez being only 25.

A self-made dedicated WBO Super Middle Weight champion seems much more deserving of this fight date and promotional spending in comparison to Chavez Jr., who’s been publicly ridiculed by his own father for having poor training methods. Fans have witnessed his failed drug test, missed weight on the scale and lack of thick skin in dealing with media.

Being the son of a Mexican fight legend may seem like a burden but it surely seems to be an easy bail out for Chavez Jr. as he has not been PPV relevant in nearly five years. When an opportunity to fight Alvarez for an estimated six million on the purse plus PPV revenue, you take it and run with it. Don’t be surprised to see Chavez Jr. go into obscurity should this weekend turn out to be a nightmare for him as the boxing world will be watching every move from the moment he hits the scale at public weigh-ins. Making weight is the first battle every fighter faces, an opponent that has gotten to Chavez Jr. in the past.

Come Saturday night, expect a better under-card for a PPV event as Lucas Matthysee will fight against Emmanuel Taylor in their 140 lbs super lightweight match-up, as well as David Lemieux vs Marco Reyes in their own middleweight bout at 160 lbs. This could be a sneaky ploy as shallow rumors have Lemieux as a potential future fight for catch-weight Alvarez as he’ll most definitely take the pay day to get worked as he did in the Golovkin fight. It’s amazing in boxing that you get paid the most for your biggest losses.

Quick predictions: Matthysee on points, Lemuiex by KO, Alvarez by 10th round KO.