Photos: Canelo, Chavez Jr. Ready For Mexican War in Las Vegas

By Keith Idec

LAS VEGAS – Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. answered any doubts about his ability to make the catch weight Friday afternoon.

Chavez weighed in at 164 pounds, just below the contracted maximum of 164½ for his catch-weight showdown with Mexican rival Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. The 31-year-old Chavez, infamous for struggling to make weight, would’ve been fined $1 million per pound if he came in overweight Friday before an energetic crowd that was estimated to be around 10,000 at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Cinco de Mayo.

He looked depleted prior to stepping on the scale, but Chavez’s ability to make weight without a problem brought an anticlimactic conclusion to perhaps the most interesting storyline during the buildup toward their HBO Pay-Per-View main event. The son of Mexico’s most beloved boxer agreed to fight at Alvarez’s preferred catch weight because his guarantee for their 12-round fight is $6 million.

Chavez (50-2-1, 32 KOs, 1 NC) hadn’t been as low as what he weighed Friday since he weighed in at 159 pounds for his 12-round unanimous-decision defeat to Sergio Martinez in their WBC middleweight title fight in September 2012. His five fights since the Martinez match have been contested within the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.

Alvarez, meanwhile, seemingly had little difficulty making weight as he weighed in at a career-high 164 pounds. Before Friday, the most the WBO super welterweight champion had weighed for any of his first 50 professional fights was 155 pounds.

The 26-year-old Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) weighed 155 for four of his fights that were contested at catch weights. He won each of those bouts against Alfredo Angulo (10th-round TKO), Erislandy Lara (12-round split decision), Miguel Cotto (12-round unanimous decision) and Amir Khan (sixth-round knockout).

Against Chavez, however, the 5-feet-9 Alvarez will face a significant size disadvantage.

Angel Heredia, Chavez’s strength and conditioning coach, told BoxingScene.com on Thursday that he expects Chavez to weigh between 182 and 185 pounds once their fight starts Saturday night. Heredia also said he expects Alvarez to weigh 166 or 167 pounds when the bout begins.

Alvarez still was a slightly more than a 6-1 favorite over Chavez on Friday afternoon at MGM Grand’s sports book.

Below are the weights for the first three pay-per-view fights Saturday night (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT; $69.99 in HD). Each of those six boxers made weight Friday.

Middleweights, 10 rounds: David Lemieux (37-3 33 KOs), Montreal, 163 pounds, vs. Marcos Reyes (35-4, 26 KOs), Chihuahua, Mexico, 163 pounds.

Welterweights, 10 rounds: Lucas Matthysse (37-4, 34 KOs, 1 NC), Chubut, Argentina, 147 pounds, vs. Emmanuel Taylor (20-4, 14 KOs), Cleverly, Maryland, 147 pounds.

Featherweights: 10 rounds: Joseph Diaz Jr. (23-0, 13 KOs), South El Monte, California, 125½ pounds, vs. Manuel Avila (22-0, 8 KOs), Fairfield, California, 125 pounds.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.