Manfredo Jr still has "Unfinished Business!"

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Things looked bright for 'The Pride Of Providence' Peter Manfredo Jr when he came out of the 2005 Contender Series a more popular fighter than ever and with a bigger fan base than he may have ever expected. And for three or four years he did live the life of a "mainstream" boxer but now he faces what he believes is the "inevitable" outcome for any professional boxer.

Manfredo returns this weekend at the Twin River Event Center when he takes on Walter Wright (14-3, 7 KO's) in a 10-round contest. His comeback began back in November of last year with a unanimous decision victory Rayco Saunders, and the 32-year old believes this next fight can get him back to where he wants to be. A win is a must for Manfredo at this stage of his career, and he is certain he can get that. But this time his lifestyle are preparations are a bit different to his fights back in the day with the likes of Joe Calzaghe and Jeff Lacy.

A normal day now for Manfredo begins at 4 with the 32-year old going off to his day-job in Boston. He then  travels 50 or so miles back to Rhode Island for a few hours of training with each session becoming longer and tougher as fight night grows near. After a long and tiring day he then heads home to Connecticut with his wife and kids before doing it all again the next day. Balancing life as a laborer and professional boxer is a tough ask for any man but Manfredo believes it is worth it if it means he doesn't have to go through the plagued aftermath that many retired boxers do.

Sergio Martinez expects Canelo to duck and fight Cotto...

WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez is looking for a new challenge for the Spring of next year but believes that he may not be able to get some of the fights he wants.

'Maravilla' is coming off of a dominating performance over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and is hoping to face Mexico's other 'Golden Child', Saul Alvarez, in April or May of next year. The 37-year old has even stated that he would be willing to move down to 154lb to make the fight happen. However, he believes that this fight probably won't be happening anytime soon.

"Canelo has better and safer offers. After what happened to (Chavez) Junior, logic would tell me that he'll fight Cotto (because) there is less risk and more money," said Martinez.

Martinez has said that he will rematch Chavez Jr in the fall of next year but is really hoping for a "super-fight" with one of boxing's biggest stars before the rematch. And to be honest with you, he deserves one. The guy has done everything asked of him, fought everyone who's been offered to him and looked a class above all of them in the ring. He only wants one thing and that's a chance to prove he is the best pound-for-pound fighter out there today but unfortunately it looks like he isn't going to get that chance. In fact it looks like a rematch with the likes of Matthew Macklin is the most likely fight out there for him at the moment.

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Chavez Jr tests positive for marijuana!

Chavez Jr after his loss to Sergio Martinez.

It has been confirmed by Top Rank, who promote Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, that the Mexican fan favourite tested positive for marijuana on the night of his defeat to Sergio Martinez.

Top Rank gave the following statement: "Top Rank is reviewing the situation. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr will have the opportunity to explain about the situation to the Nevada State Athletic Commission."

Executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Keith Kizer, told boxingscene.com that he cannot yet officially comment on the situation: "I cannot confirm or deny anyone until I get all the results... Hopefully I will have all of them by Friday afternoon."

This is the second time that Chavez has tested positive in the last three years. In 2009, he tested positive for Furosemide after his win over Troy Rowland. The result of the fight was changed to a no-decision and Chavez was fined $10,000 and banned for seven months.

The strange thing about this is the drug that he actually took. Marijuana is in no way whatsoever a performance enhancing drug so there is not really a reason to take it. It may calm you down but it's not a very good idea taking it on the day of the biggest fight of your career.

 

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Fight Night Of The Year!

You've read the title and I'm sure you'll agree. Last night (September 15th) was the biggest and best night of the year for boxing fans all around the world! I don't normally sum up the whole night in one article because usually there is a difference in class and entertainment between the fights, but not this time. Every fight that took place provided us with excitement and entertainment to the highest level.

I'm gonna start off with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Vs Sergio Martinez. Now, it's not often you can get scorecards as wide as 117-110, 118-109 & 118-109 and say that a fight was jam packed with action and excitement. Well with this one you can. Martinez dominated most of the fight, almost all of the fight, but the final round will go down as one of the best in boxing history. Chavez knew he had to get the knockout so for the final time in the fight, he stepped up the pace and bulldozed towards Martinez. He landed a couple of shots and then BOOM! Martinez hit the floor. At this point I was jumping out of my seat as a I just couldn't believe what was happening. It actually seemed as though Chavez Jr was going to come back and finish this fight in the 12th.
But, just as it seemed the surprises and shocks were over... Martinez came back even stronger and Chavez looked like the guy who had just been knocked down. He was swinging everywhere and Martinez was landing some solid shots. The bell rang and both men walked away knowing they had give it their all. They matched each other for heart but Martinez was purely just the more talented guy.

Where Martinez goes next will link in with something at the end of this article so I'll leave that to then. But I know exactly where I want Chavez to go next. I want him to fight Carl Froch. He obviously needs to move up in weight. He's only 26 so he's still got his whole career ahead of him. Why not start off fresh at a new weight? I'm sure the fans would love to see this fight as both of these guys bring excitement and heart to the ring.

Damn! Don't even get me started on the undercard. I'll get the first two out of the way because I just want to talk about Miguel Beltran Jr Vs Rocky Martinez.

Guillermo Rigondeaux dominated against Roberto Maroquin but did show a few flaws and looked slightly less unbeatable than he usually does. And then Matthew Macklin announced himself back onto the world middleweight scene by stopping Joachim Alcine in the first round.

Now, onto the "fight of the year", well in my opinion it is, and I'm sure a lot of you will agree with me. I'm surprised the fans still had energy to watch Chavez Vs Martinez after witnessing this fight. It was 12 rounds of non-stop action from Beltran and Martinez. The judges scorecards were 116-111 Beltran (horrendous judging) & 114-113, 114-113 to Rocky Martinez, meaning Martinez won the fight by split decision and claimed the WBA title. If you get time, try and watch this fight on YouTube as it truly was the most action-packed fight of the year.

Right, onto the Golden Boy show. Now I have to say it; this show was not as good as the Top Rank show (I think we always knew it wasn't going to be) but it did still provide a lot entertainment. Especially the fight between Marcos Maidana and Jesus Soto Karass. This was another all-out war and it seemed like both guys just forgot about the rules. The referee, Kenny Bayliss was forced to deduct points from both fighters. After slowing down and losing a couple of rounds, Maidana eventually managed to pin Karass to the ropes and stop him in the 8th round. It wasn't a top draw performance from Maidana but he got the job done.

The main event on this show went exactly as expected. Many, including myself, were hoping that Josesito Lopez could cause an upset once again and steal the title from Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. But unfortunately this wasn't the case and Alavarez dominated Lopez for four rounds and then stopped him in the 5th.

Now this is where Martinez comes back into the equation. I would love to see 'Maravilla' fight Floyd Mayweather but to be honest with you, I just can't see this happening. So the second best option for Martinez is Canelo. Ward is out of the picture because Martinez will not move up to super-middleweight so this is the next best fight for us fight fans. The chances of it happening are about 50% but we can still hope. Both fighters' confidence will be sky high after last night so they'll both feel like they can take on anyone right now.

Well that's it, last night summed in as short article as possible (I could have gone on talk about it for pages and pages). It truly was one of the best nights in boxing's long and eventful history.

 

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Martinez & Chavez exchange harsh words...

Chavez Jr (left) with Martinez (right).

This Saturday, WBC middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr takes on pound-for-pound contender Sergio Martinez in one of the biggest fights of the year. Now, I think it's fair to say that these do not like each other, you can even go as far as saying they actually hate each other. There is so much bad blood between them and they just can't stop insulting each other.

Martinez, who is obviously very hyped up for this fight, started with the trash-talk and made some pretty bold statements.

"I trained a long time dancing," said Martinez. "That's all I need to break his face a thousand times."

"I will punish him a lot and then I will knock him out. He will suffer a lot."

Chavez, who has been slightly quieter in the build-up to this fight, was quick to respond.

"I'm not only going to beat you; I'm going to retire you," said Chavez in reply to Martinez.

He continued: "I have seen when he was knocked out or knocked down and his eyes were white. He looked pretty good."

Seeing as Chavez brought up some of his history, 'Maravilla' decided to do a bit of the same.

"The only reason he is the champion is that he is Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, the son of the legend. His mouth is bigger than his brain, he's talking too much."

Chavez once again responded to these taunts, this time saying: "I am going to shut him up once and for all... He is just a big clown."

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Team Martinez: Fight Only Happens If Ward Moves Down...

"Middleweight King" Sergio Martinez.

Super-middleweight ruler Andre Ward.

Recently, there have been a lot of people calling for a fight between the world No.1 middleweight Sergio Martinez and the WBC super-middleweight world champion, who are considered as the two bets fighters on the planet other than Floyd Mayweather. However, it has now been revealed that the fight will only happen one way... And that's if Andre Ward moves down to 160lb.

Sergio Martinez's adviser, Sampson Lewkowicz, has revealed that his fighter will never fight at super-middleweight, and the only way a fight with Ward can happen is if Ward decides to drop down in weight.

"If Andre Ward moves down to 160 pounds, the fight will happen," said Lewkowicz. "Sergio Martinez would never turn down any challenge in the middleweight division.  However, Sergio will never move up to 168 pounds or fight Ward at a catch-weight. We are ready to fight anyone in the middleweight division or at 154 pounds, or Floyd Mayweather Jr or Manny Pacquiao at 152."

"Martinez is a blown-up 154 pounder, who chooses to fight in the middleweight division. He made weight for this fight last week. He will never fight at super-middleweight."

At the moment, I'm not sure whether to be happy or disappointed. The chances of a fight between Ward and Martinez have decreased slightly but at least they're actually talking about the fight. The fact that one of Martinez's team has talked about Ward publicly does show that they see him as an option.

However, there is one thing you still need to remember. Martinez faces Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on Saturday and he must get through him face. If Chavez wins on Saturday everything changes. It would then be likely that we would see Chavez move up to super-middleweight to fight Ward. Let's just hope Martinez hasn't made a big mistake and looked past Chavez.

 

By Jack Price (@PriceyJ97)

Daniel Geale targets America!

Daniel Geale arrives back in Sydney after fight with Felix Sturm.

Unified middleweight world champion Daniel Geale has revealed that his next target is to fight in America and really announce himself to the worldwide community of boxing fans.
The Aussie is already a relatively well-known and popular fighter but he is probably not even heard of by most casual boxing fans. So a big fight in America would be a perfect way to boost his popularity.

Geale is just coming off of a fantastic victory over former world champion Felix Sturm but the 'Real Deal' claims that he wants to carry on fighting tough opponents in big fights. To start this process, he would like to take on the winner of the middleweight super-showdown between Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesat Chavez Jr, two of the best fighters in the world.

"I think if you go over and conquer the US as well that's the next target," said Geale.

"With the help of my promoter Gary Shaw, we're going to get over there and shake those guys up too... Its been great to do it in Germany, but I think now we've got to do it in other countries as well. I'd love to be able to bring some huge name fighters out to Australia as well. I'd love to be able to put on a massive home town fight in Sydney."

"We've got to keep taking the next step and that is obviously going to mean more money, but it definitely means harder and bigger fights."

Geale does also have a mandatory defence for each title he owns. One against fellow Australian Sam Soliman and the other with quickly rising superstar Gennady Golovkin.

Calzaghe looking to train Khan...

World class boxing coach Enzo Calzaghe has revealed that he would be more than willing to train former WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan and help rebuild his career.

Khan after his defeat to Danny Garcia.

Khan, 25-years old, suffered a shock knock-out defeat to undefeated WBC champ Danny Garcia last weekend (July 14th) but the Olympic silver medallist claims that his career is far from over. However, he has admitted that some changes need to be made and if his current trainer Freddie Roach cannot commit 100% to training him then he will be looking for another coach.

Enzo Calzaghe, father of super-middleweight ring legend Joe Calzaghe, had his training license reinstated last month after his old one lapsed back in 2009. The 61-year old believes that Khan is a great fighter and just needs the right training.

"My next goal is to talk to Amir Khan and his team," Calzaghe told BBC Sport. "We spoke before, about three years ago. I have always believed Amir is a great fighter, despite what people think. People say he should quit but I don't think he should be quitting. I believe with the right trainer - and my CV speaks for itself - he will be unbeatable."

It's hard to say, but I think this could potentially be a great move for Khan. It's been clear for quite a while now that Khan is never going to reach his full potential whilst Roach is also training Manny Pacquiao and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Roach is a great trainer but just simply doesn't have the time to focus all of his efforts on Khan. 'King' Khan would be Calzaghe's biggest and best fighter so there would be no worries about not getting a lot of focus. If Khan plans to return in December, he is going to have to make a decision soon.

Macklin Vs Alcine confirmed for September 15th!

Macklin gave Martinez one of his toughest fights.

Former middleweight world title contender Matthew Macklin will return to the ring on September 15th against Joachim Alcine at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Joachim Alcine.

It will be the Brit's first time back in the ring since his knock out loss to middleweight No.1 Sergio Martinez in March of this year. Macklin may have lost in that fight but he still put on a good performance and made a good name for himself against one of the best fighters in the world.

His opponent, Joachim Alcine, is 36-years old but he is still a very dangerous fighter. The Canadian held the WBA light-middleweight world title between 2007 and 2008, and was a very, very good fighter at the time. He has been on a slight decline in recent years but he is coming off a stunningly good performance against David Lemieux in December. He has had only two losses in a 36-fight career. Macklin will be the big favourite going into the fight, but there is a slight chance of an upset.

The bout will take place on the undercard of another middleweight showdown on that night, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Vs Sergio Martinez. This may be a little disheartening for Macklin as his fight will be completely overshadowed by the headline bout. But, he will have a chance of starring in his own world title fight very soon as the winner of his fight with Alcine is looking very likely to face the winner of Martinez Vs Chavez Jr.

Trout could be next in line for 'Canelo'...

Austin Trout.

Over the last few months, Golden Boy have been desperately trying to find an opponent for their young star Saul Alvarez for September 15t. So far, they have managed to find three men that would have all made a great fight for the fans and Alvarez himself, but unfortunately, all three of these have fell through.

WBC champ Saul Alvarez.

'Canelo' was originally set to face young up and coming light-middleweight James Kirkland but Kirkland pulled out due to injury. Then an even better opponent was brought in. The former pound-for-pound contender Paul Williams. But unfortunately, Williams was in a tragic motorcycle accident that could potentially leave him paralysed from the waist down. So, at this point everyone was thinking that we would just have to see Alvarez fight a "nobody" on September 15th. However, two weeks ago, things got even better for fight fans. It was announced that Saul Alvarez would be fighting welterweight superstar Victor Ortiz. This was set to be the toughest test of the 21-year old's career and all Ortiz had to do was get a win against a half decent fighter named Josesito Lopez on June 23rd. But once again, another problem occurred. Ortiz lost the fight and had his jaw broken, meaning that there was no chance of him fighting Alvarez on September 15th.


Many people believe that all of this is happening because the "boxing gods" want to see 'Canelo' face Cuban light-middleweight prospect Erislandy Lara. However, it still seems as though this fight is not going to happen.


The main opponent that is being discussed right now is WBA 'regular' light-middleweight champ Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO's). If it does happen, the bout will be televised live on Showtime and go head-to-head with the highly anticipated grudge match between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Sergio Martinez. If this does happen, then I'm sure that the majority of the fans will be watching Chavez Vs Martinez on HBO which means Golden Boy and Alvarez will potentially lose a lot of money. 


To be honest with you, this is a decent fight, but I don't think it will interest as many people as Alvarez Vs Kirkland, Williams or Ortiz would have done. Trout is a good fighter but just doesn't have the popularity to make this a headline fight on a PPV. Golden Boy would have to do a hell of a lot of hyping up to get people excited about this. The only thing that could get people a little more interested is that Trout has a win over Canelo's brother Rigoberto. This is something that Golden Boy will no doubt mention on plenty of occasions.

Sergio Martinez threatens 'Canelo'!

Pound-for-pound contender Sergio Martinez is set to face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr for the WBC middleweight title of the world on September 15th. This is a very good fight that has been made and usually it would attract a hell of a lot of views. However, there is another top class pay-per-view fight on exactly the same day. 'Canelo' (Saul Alvarez) Vs Victor Ortiz.

Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO's) was quick to realise this and issued a direct warning to Alvarez as he does not want anything ruining his first fight on a PPV.

21-year old Saul Alvarez.

"I am very happy for my first chance [headlining a PPV]. The competition, sometime it's good but if [Canelo] continues in that position.. After I finish with Chavez, I will go down to 154 and do the same thing to Canelo, and get back the other belt that belongs to me to," said Martinez.

The Martinez-Chavez fight is promoted by Top Rank and Lou DiBella and will be shown live on HBO, whereas the Alvarez-Ortiz fight is promoted solely by Golden Boy and will be shown live on Showtime. This is the first time in around five years that two big fights promoted by these will go head-to-head on exactly the same day. The last time was in June 2006, when Bernard Hopkins moved up to light-heavy to face Antonio Tarver (promoted by Golden Boy). On the same day was Miguel Cotto Vs Paulie Malignaggi (promoted by Top Rank.

Martinez also had a little bit to say about his opponent, Chavez Jr: "After I finish with Chavez, he will never make it to 168. He will retire very young."

I'm sure that one of the promotional companies will see sense and move their fight back or forward a week or two. These are two big fights that everyone wants to see, so the fact that we can only see one is pretty annoying for most fans. According to reports, Top Rank had the September 15th date pencilled in first so at the moment it looks it may be Golden Boy that have to change their date.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr one step closer to becoming "great"...

Chavez Jr celebrates victory over Andy Lee.

Yesterday (June 16th), Mexican middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr made the third successful defence of his WBC world title. He did this by stopping top Irish contender Andy Lee in the seventh round.

Going into this fight, I think that Chavez had a hell of a lot of doubters. Many people just thought that he was living in the shadow of his dad and that was the only reason he actually made it in this sport. He was also constantly criticised for taking fights with relatively easy opponents. However, during this fight, he got rid of all doubts in anybodies mind. Lee was definitely a world level fighter and Chavez just looked a level above him from the second round on.

Lee started well and on most people's scorecards won the first two rounds. But, from that point on, Chavez just put constant pressure on the Irishman and began to wear him down. In my opinion, Lee fought the wrong fight. Everybody knew that if he was going to stand a chance of winning, he was going to have to stick out the jab and just attempt to out-box Chavez. However, his Irish fighting pride kicked in and he chose to stand toe-to-toe with Chavez. This was the wrong decision.

From the fourth round on, Chavez looked dominant and was landing a lot of clean body shots on Lee. It was  easy to see that Lee was tiring and when it got to the seventh round he just couldn't continue any more. Chavez pinned him against the ropes and unleashed his pressure on the inside. He caught Lee a number of times leaving him out on his feet. The referee chose to jump in and stop the fight.

Pound-for-pound contender Sergio Martinez.

This obviously wasn't the toughest fight that Team Chavez could have took but they proved to a lot of people that their fighter is a lot better than some people may think.

And, in the post-fight interview with Chavez and his Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, things got even better. Arum announced that on September 15th, the middleweight fight that everybody wants to see is going to happen. Julio Cesar Chavez  Jr against Sergio Martinez. People have been calling for this fight for a very long time. Many people, and I must say including myself, accused Chavez of ducking Martinez. The fans all call Martinez the true middleweight champion as Chavez was basically handed the WBC title.

On September 15th, we will find out who is the true middleweight champion of the world. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr or Sergio 'Maravilla' Martinez?

Chavez Jr Vs Lee: Controversy at weigh-in

Chavez and Lee face-to-face at the weigh-in.

Yesterday (June 15th), the weigh-in was held for the WBC middleweight title fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Andy Lee. Both fighters made the weight (Chavez 159lb, Lee 159.25lb) and everything seemed to be going smoothly. But then a problem occurred.

Lee's handlers weighed their fighters gloves to ensure to everybody that they were 10oz gloves to make sure that everything was fair and there were no silly advantages. However, Chavez and his team refused to weigh theirs. According to Lee's team, they made an official request to Texas Commission inspector Robert Tapia but he refused and said: "I'm the boss here. I say whether or not we are going to inspect the gloves and we're not going to."

Perry Mandera (Lee's manager) claimed that he then went over to Chavez's trainer Freddie Roach to reason with him and ask him to weigh his fighters gloves but once again they refused.

"He pushed past me and said 'we don't have to, so we're not going to," explained Mandera. "They brought their own gloves and we brought ours," said Mandera, "so we thought in the interest of full disclosure and a level playing field, we would weigh both pairs. We weighed ours out in the open in front of everyone. They would not put theirs on the scale."


Team Lee claimed that the only reason that they mad the request was to ensure that everything was fair so that there would be no excuses.


"We just want everything fair. I don't know why they wouldn't drop the gloves on a scale to remove any doubt about a pair of gloves they brought themselves," said Mandera. "Yes, it's a new pair, but you ever buy a pair of shoes that say size 10 and they're not? That's all we were trying to resolve. So why won't they weigh the gloves?"

This is certainly a strange decision from Chavez's team and the commission but I don't believe that there is any foul play involved. I think that Team Chavez may just be a little worried about the fight so they are playing mind games and trying to gain as many little advantages as they can.

Chavez Jr moving up to 168lb after Lee fight...

Chavez Jr after his fight with Rubio (the heaviest he ever weighed for a fight).

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr's trainer Freddie Roach has made it clear and simple that after the Mexican's title defence against Andy Lee tonight (June 16th), he will likely be moving up to the super-middleweight division.

"After this fight, we'll probably goo to 168" said Roach.

It has been known for a long time that Chavez struggles to make the weight limit at middleweight. On the night of his fights, he sometimes weighs in at over 180lb. Which means who puts on around 20lb in one day. It's pretty obvious that this is not good for the body and explains why he sometimes looks a little slow and drowsy in the ring.

If he manages to beat his Irish opponent Andy Lee tonight then it is almost certain that the WBC champ will be moving up. Roach also claimed that his fighter's weight was less of a problem for this fight for one reason:

"We had the weight come down a lot earlier," explained Roach.

Roach also revealed that after this bout, he would like Chavez to face Kelly Pavlik, which would be a great fight. But, he also stated that if a fight with Sergio Martinez does come about, they will take it straight away. Chavez has been constantly criticised for ducking Martinez, who many believe is the true world middleweight champ, but Team Chavez claim that they are willing and ready to take the fight.

Chavez Jr visits children's hospital in El Paso...

Yesterday (June 12th), WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr made a special surprise visit to the Regional Children's Hospital in El Paso, where he will he defend his title against Andy Lee on Saturday night at the Sun Bowl.

This is a very tough fight that Chavez is in on Saturday (possibly the toughest of his career) and his training camp must leave little spare time to do this type of thing. The fact that he went out of his way to do something like this has helped his popularity and also the sport of boxing, which has faced so much controversy in recent times. The Mexican is a sporting hero in El Paso and I'm sure that all of the young children were very excited to see him.

Chavez claims that he is now making boxing his life. In the build-up to recent fights that Chavez has been in, he has been notoriously famous for not taking his training seriously and performing pretty badly in his fights. Maybe now we will see a new and dramatically improved Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The new fully-committed fighter has a chance to prove this on Saturday night.

BoxingOpinions Fight Preview for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Vs Andy Lee

Chavez Jr Vs Andy Lee fight at Sun Bowl may get cancelled!

WBC middleweight champion of the world Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is set to fight highly rated middleweight Andy Lee on June 16th but there has been rumours that the fight may be cancelled. It was concerns over border violence that caused the University of Texas Board of Regents to cancel the fight in El Paso but after a lot of arguing and debating Bob Arum has claimed that the fight is still on.

The scheduled date is till around two months away so they should be able to find another arena by then unless, for some reason, they want to push the fight back a bit.

Yesterday's scheduled press conference went ahead in El Paso and everything was fine but the UOTBOR still want the fight to take place at a different site.

Chavez (45-0-1, 31 KO's) is a very popular fighter in El Paso so I'm sure he will be a little upset that the fight   will not happen there and I'm sure his team will have something to moan about. In Lee's (28-1, 20 KO's) case I think he is just happy that he is finally getting his chance that he feels he has deserved for a long time so he won't care where the fight takes place.

If the date of the fight was to change it would be a major blow for Top Rank and HBO as the scheduled date is a week after Manny Pacquiao takes on Timothy Bradley so the replay of that fight will be shown on the same night as Chavez Vs Lee, which should bump up the viewers a little bit.

Chavez Jr & Andy Lee event open to public!

WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

The first press conference for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Vs Andy Lee will take place in El Paso on April 24th and it will be free to attend for all boxing fans. There will be lunch at 12:30pm and the news conference will begin at 1:00pm. Joining Chavez will be Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum and Fernando Beltran. Lee will be with Emanuel Steward and Ron Rizzo.

Andy Lee

This will be one of the first press conferences for a big fight that will be free to the public. Top Rank and Zanfer Promotions are most likely looking for a way to add more hype to a fight that most people are disappointed with. Tickets for the fight will go on sale on Saturday April 28th.

Lee and Chavez both have very good records and high knock out rate (73% together).

Chavez's record is 45-0-1 with 31 KOs and will be making his first appearance in El Paso since 2006. Since then he has become the WBC middleweight champion of the world so it will be a memorable night for the young Mexican.

Lee believes that he has deserved this fight for a long time and that Team Chavez have been avoiding him ever since he called Chavez Jr out a few years ago.

This will not be one of the best fights of the year as we would have much rather seen Chavez face P4P No.3 Sergio Martinez but that fight looks a long way away. If Andy Lee performs to the best of his ability then we could see a very close fight on June 16th.

Chavez Jr's next opponent confirmed...

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr will defend his WBC middleweight title against 
tricky Irish southpaw Andy Lee on June 16th. The fight will be shown live on HBO. 

Lee's promoter is confident that the winner of the fight will face P4P 
No.3 Sergio Martinez later this year. 

Andy Lee

Martinez has been waiting for his mandated title shot for a very long 
time. His last fight was against Matthew Macklin where he scored an 11th round stoppage over the Irish warrior. 

"This is a great opportunity for Andy. And right now we're trying to 
get a deal done for the winner to fight Sergio Martinez. The major 
terms have been agreed on, between me and Bob Arum. We just have to 
work out some minor obstacles," said Lou Di Bella. 

Lee, who has a record of 28 wins from 29 fights with 20 KO's is a 
slight step up in class for Chavez Jr, who will be making his third 
defence of the belt. The Mexican won the title last year against Sebastian Zbik. 

The fight will take place at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. Chavez has 
proven that he can attract a big crowd in Texas although it is nowhere 
near as much as he can in his in his native Mexico. It will also come 
straight after the fantastic month of boxing that involves Mayweather 
Vs Cotto and Pacquiao Vs Bradley, so the fans will definitely be in the 
mood for more boxing. We could have another sell-out fight on our hands.

Martin Murray withdraws from Chavez Jr fight!

British, Commonwealth and Intercontinental champion Martin Murray has had to withdraw from his fight with WBC world middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr due to the fact that he will not be able to get a visa in time.

The reason for this is that Murray spent time in prison when he was younger but since then has turned his life around. This means that because of his past there was a delay with the approval of the visa.

The fight was scheduled for June 16th and was to be held in Texas. Murray is very annoyed with the situation. ''I'd signed the contract and everything was agreed so to be told I cannot box Chavez Jr because of my past is gut-wrenching''said Murray. ''As a human being I couldn't have done any more to turn my life around in the last seven years.''

Murray in fight with Felix Sturm.

Murray has said that he will still try and get himself a visa so he can box in the United States in the future but for now he will concentrate on defending his titles and maybe add another Lonsdale belt this summer.
He proved that he is able to fight at world level when he drew with WBA super champion Felix Sturm last december.

Murray is very grateful to his promoter Ricky Hatton for everything he has done. ''I would like to thank my team, Hatton Promotions for all their efforts and I have every faith in them.''

Hatton also commented on the situation saying: ''This is a sledgehammer for Martin and his team but everyone at Hatton Promotions will work to get him another world title fight.''

Chavez Jr could be stripped of WBC title!

Chavez Jr with WBC title.

WBC world middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is likely to be stripped of his title if he does not face the current mandatory challenger Sergio Martinez.

In a recent interview, WBC President Jose Sulaiman announced that if Chavez Jr is unable to defend his title against the No.3 P4P fighter in the world Sergio Martinez the WBC will be forced to take strict action against him which will most probably result in him losing his title.

The announcement that Martinez would be made the mandatory challenger came last year at the WBC's 49th annual convention. However, they allowed Chavez Jr to have one fight before his clash with Sergio Martinez. Marco Antonio Rubio was chosen as Chavez's opponent but the bout never took place.

Sulaiman believes that Chavez Jr is not in the mood for defending his title but he did also say that he believes it his promoters that are the reason for the fight not happening. ''It is not Chavez that does not want to fight, it is his promoters'' said Sulaiman. The president and the fans are expecting the fight to happen so if it doesn't it will not only affect Chavez's titles but also his reputation.

At the moment there has been no reports of negotiations between the two camps but the talks are meant to start on March 18th.

We will do an update on the story as soon as we find out any extra information, so keep checking our site.