Saul Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. both registered at 164 pounds during Friday's official weigh-in for their anticipated 12-round super middleweight fight on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, and can be seen live on HBO Pay-Per-View. The fight was agreed at a catch-weight of 164.5 pounds. It was stipulated in the contract that every pound over the agreed weight, has to pay a penalty equivalent to $ 1M.

Canelo (48-1-1, 34 KOs) looked perfectly comfortable at the weight he is at during the weigh-in. He's looking strong and ready to go for tonight's fight. Canelo had never weighed more than 154 pounds in any of his past bouts. Although it is very obvious that he's gone bigger and definitely has outgrown the junior middleweight limit. We'll he still can make the 154-pound limit, but for sure not with ease. Everybody is calling him to move up in weight as the big names were in the middleweight division.

Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs), we all know that he walks around more than 175 pounds because he used to balloon in between fights. His last bout was against Dominik Britsch, he weighed in at 168 pounds, and few fights earlier, he weighted at the light heavyweight territory. So, surprisingly Junior came in under the agreed catchweight. But of course, he doesn't look comfortable. I mean, he looks so drained. Although I notice that his lips were not looking pale -- it was so red actually -- that I thought he was wearing lipsticks. Naaa... the fans that were there during the weigh-in can confirm, that's just my observation.

Anyway, the fighters came in at the desired weight and so... we have a fight on Saturday night.

LAS VEGAS (May 4, 2017) - Fighters on the undercard of Canelo vs. Chavez, Jr. hosted a press conference today at MGM Grand Hotel and Casino ahead of their bouts on Saturday, May 6. Co-main event fighters former IBF Middleweight Champion David Lemieux (37-3, 33 KOs) and Middleweight contender Marco "Dorado" Reyes (35-4, 26 KOs) were joined by former WBC Silver Super Lightweight Champion Lucas "La Maquina" Matthysse (37-4, 34 KOs), Welterweight contender Emmanuel "Tranzformer" Taylor (20-4, 14 KOs), NABF Featherweight Champion Joseph "Jojo" Diaz, Jr. and IBA Featherweight Champion Manuel "Tino" Avila (22-0, 8 KOs) on the HBO Pay-Per-View portion beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Fighting on the preliminary undercard "free view" stream beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT, lightweight prospect Ryan "Kingry" Garcia (8-0, 7 KOs) will face Tyrone Luckey (8-6-3, 6 KOs) and flyweight prospect Marlen Esparza (1-0) will take on Samantha Salazar (2-3-1). Former Mexican Olympian Raul "El Cugar" Curiel will make his pro debut against Jesus Sanchez (1-1-2).

Super bantamweight contender Ronny Rios (27-1, 12 KOs) will fight Daniel Noriega (28-10-1, 15 KOs) and lightweight prospect Joseph "Diamante" Aguirre (16-0, 9 KOs) will take on Angel Aispuro (8-4-2) beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT.

Below is what the fighters and their teams had to say at today's final press conference:

ERIC GOMEZ, President of Golden Boy Promotions:

"We at Golden Boy Promotions have stacked this card from top to bottom, and I believe it is our best undercard yet with fighters from three continents here making this a global event on Cinco de Mayo. Throughout the night of May 6, fans will see a range of great action fights from some of our top prospects; to battles of undefeated contenders; to the return of former world champions.

"I also just received confirmation that our May 5th show tomorrow is completely sold out, thank you to all of our fight fans who have sold out this show and our May 6th show.

BERNARD HOPKINS, Future Hall of Famer and Golden Boy Promotions Business Partner:

"I want the young fighters to know this a great opportunity to be on this Cinco de Mayo undercard with Canelo and Chavez, Jr. This is a great moment to become a champion and be a part of this historical event. Take care of business, and be sure to put on a great show."

TONY WALKER, Vice President of HBO Pay-Per-View:

"Our distributors have always told us undercards matter, when you think about it-there is four hours of time to fill. People want to be entertained during that time, so it really helps when you have an exciting undercard to the main event."

"We feel David Lemieux, Lucas Matthysse, Joseph Diaz Jr., all enhance this card and from their strong fan bases in Canada, Argentina and Los Angeles, we expect the fans to be very happy with these great fights."

CAMILLE ESTEPHAN, President of Eye of the Tiger Management:

"This is very exciting, as a fan of boxing, this is an amazing card. Every fight is a must-see. I want to mention the industry of boxing-with the right fights, people come out. We are here to contribute to this great show. David is read, and you can expect fireworks from this co-main event."

DAVID LEMIEUX, Former IBF Middleweight World Champion:

"I'm back, I'm expecting this to be a great night of boxing and to put on a show. I started training immediately after my last fight in March and look forward to Saturday night."

MARCO "DORADO" REYES, Middleweight Contender:

"Without my team, I wouldn't be here. This is going to be an explosive fight between two big puncher fighters in the ring."

MARIO ARANO, President of Arano Boxing:

"We're very excited and very happy for this fight-moving up to weight to welterweight has been a blessing for us. We have a team that has worked with Lucas for 14 years, and it has been a blessing to move up in weight divisions. There is no possibility for Lucas to return to 140. I want to remind you all, Lucas never retired, he is back and ready to give more wars."

LUCAS "LA MAQUINA" MATTHYSSE, Former WBC Silver Super Lightweight Champion:

"Training camp has been great with Joel Diaz, it has worked so well with him. I'm going to put on a great fight-see everyone on Saturday."

JOE DEGUARDIA, President of Star Boxing:

"There are many special things about the Canelo vs. Chavez, Jr. fight. I'm extremely impressed with the undercard, and it is amazing we can put together a quality card like this for the fight. It's a true testimony to the sport."

EMANUEL "TRANZFORMER" TAYLOR, Welterweight Contender:

"May 6-what can I say? Lucas Matthysse is strong and powerful but it's my time now. I'm here and I'm hungry, I've been working my whole life for this. I'm excited to fight in front of all the Mexican fans on Cinco de Mayo-expect fireworks on May 6."

JOSEPH "JOJO" DIAZ, JR., NABF Featherweight Champion:

"We had a ten week training camp, and trained very hard for this fight. We're both young, undefeated fighters and there is a lot at stake here for of us because we could both potentially be mandatory challengers. We're going to put on a great show for the millions watching and the thousands in attendance."

MANUEL "TINO" AVILA, IBA Featherweight Champion:

"I've been with Golden Boy my whole career, and without them-I wouldn't be at this stage right now. This is going to be an action-packed fight and someone's '0' has to go."

MARLEN ESPARZA, Super Flyweight Prospect:

"I'm really excited about this opportunity and experience, and I want to thank everyone for backing me and seeing the vision I see. I'm very proud to be on this card with so many other amazing fighters. On fight night, it's not about win or lose, its about how I win."

RYAN "KINGRY" GARCIA, Lightweight Prospect:

"I put a lot of dedication to this fight, I'm treating this like a world championship fight. I'm coming in explosive with my speed and power-and everyone will see me put on a tremendous show on Saturday night."

TYRONE LUCKEY, Lightweight Prospect:

"Come May 6th, I'm going to give Ryan Garcia the best fight of this life. A little physical education is always good and everyone will see us put on a great fight."

RAUL "EL CUGAR" CURIEL, Former Mexican Olympian:

"You will see me put on the best show in the ring, and I want to thank everybody involved who helped us put on a great night of boxing."

RONNY RIOS, Super Bantamweight Contender:

"This is my first fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend, so I want to thank my family, Golden Boy Promotions and my team-I wouldn't be here without them."

JOSEPH "DIAMANTE" AGUIRRE, Lightweight Prospect:

"I'm really excited, I come from Cancun, Mexico and I'm looking forward to this opportunity. This is my first time fighting in Vegas-I've always fought in Mexico, so this is a dream come true for me."

Canelo vs. Chavez, Jr. is a 12-round fight presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with TGB and sponsored by Tecate, BORN BOLD, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Adriana's Insurance and Interjet. Lemieux vs. Reyes is presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Eye of the Tiger Management. Matthysse vs. Taylor is a 10-round fight presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Arano Boxing and Star Boxing. Diaz, Jr. vs. Avila is presented by Golden Boy Promotions. The event will take place Saturday, May 6 at T-Mobile Arena and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Doors open at 2:00 p.m. and the first fight begins at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT.

As it has been already established, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who is the son of a Mexican legend, has not had the best of luck in and out of the ring as of late. Back in 2012, Chavez Jr. was picked apart in eleven of twelve rounds against Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez in a showdown for the middleweight title of the world. But, in the twelfth round, Chavez Jr. came back with a valiant effort dropping the champion. That knock down caused a severe knee injury, pretty much ending the career of the great Maravilla.

After the Martinez fight, Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32 KOs) tested positive for having THC in his system during the training camp leading up to the biggest fight of his boxing career. Instead of seizing the opportunity to do mitt work with hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach, Chavez Jr. instead opted to do mitt work in the middle of his living room, when he wanted to, with one of his training camp hang-arounds. If Chavez Jr. would have won the fight, it would have made him the true middleweight champion of the world. But he lost and lost badly.

After that loss, Chavez Jr. decided to take on contender Bryan Vera (23-10, 14 KOs) at 168 pounds after initially making it a contract weight of 163. Well, that weight was not high enough for Chavez Jr. and he came in overweight. The fight went on, and Chavez Jr. won by a controversial decision. Actually, Bryan Vera won -- the judges just screwed it up. A rematch ensued and Chavez Jr. actually showed up in fighting shape. He ended up taking a decision win over Vera.

Then came the fight with Andrzej Fonfara (27-3, 16 KOs) a true Polish light heavyweight, who gave a superb effort against WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson. Now why in the world would Chavez Jr. want to fight a man as big as Fonfara, who gave a good effort against one of boxing's deadliest punchers? The man shoots that straight left down the pipe so accurately, it makes Manny Pacquiao want to quote Bruno Mars and say, "HOT DAM!" Well, Chavez Jr. chose to fight the much bigger Fonfara and got his granite chin tested. Chavez Jr. got dropped in the ninth round for the first time in his career. He later threw in the towel, giving the win to Fonfara.

After going through trainers Freddie Roach and Joe Goosen, Chavez Jr. is now settling on Robert Garcia. Chavez Jr. decided to cherry pick a fight against Marcos Reyes (33-3, 24 KOs), a blown up middleweight who has non-existent punching power, similar to Paulie Malignaggi. The contracted weight was 170 pounds. Chavez, once again comes in overweight at 170.8.

Not only has Chavez Jr. come in heavy in two out of his last four fights, his boxing looked terrible against Reyes. The man came in with his head down, shot his left hook and right hand the whole fight, obviously trying to knock out the physically smaller Reyes. The one or two rounds Chavez Jr. did use his jab, shockingly he won the round. But, Chavez Jr. reverted back to leading with his head and trying to knock out Reyes.

Chavez Jr. should have won the Reyes fight by knock out or a decision win by a
very wide margin. Yes, he claimed he hurt his hand in the third round. Although even before the third, he looked like he wanted a simple knock out, collect a paycheck, and go home. I am really not sure what Robert Garcia could do for Chavez Jr. If Chavez Jr. wants to be world champion again, something has got to change. Only Chavez Jr. knows what the answer is, to bring him back to being a solid contender.

[caption id="attachment_5911" align="alignnone" width="750"] Chavez connects a left to the head of Reyes. Photo: Naoki Fukuda[/caption]

The third week of July was perhaps the busiest boxing weekend. Here we compiled 23 results. That of course might not cover every result globally as there were professional bouts happening in the very remote areas of the globe. So that's in addition to these 23 fight results.

Here they are, the week's boxing results Roundup July 13-19:

18 July 2015

Julio César Chávez Jr. UD 10 Marcos Reyes

Chavez (49-2-1, 32 KOs) weighed over the the contracted 168-pound super middleweight limit during the official weigh-in. They let Reyes camp agreed to push the limit up to 170 pounds. Again Chavez weighed more than what is agreed. He came in at 170.8 pounds. Instead of shedding the extra baggage, he paid Reyes (33-3, 24 KOs) a penalty fee. He refused to undergo weigh-in during fight night to determine his weight. His estimated weight on fight night was between 190-200 pounds. Chavez is expected to dispatched early the undersized Reyes. But Chavez still unable to deliver what is expected, although he won on points. The official scores were: 97-92, 98-91 and 96-93.

Nonito Donaire TKO-2 Anthony Settoul

You can read here my fight report here: http://theboxingdiary.com/2015/07/donaire-delivers-a-spectacular-showing-in-macao.html

Cesar Rene Cuenca UD 12 Ik Yang

Cesar Rene Cuenca (48-0, 2 KOs) displayed a master class performance against tough brawler and China's hope for second world championship Ik Yang. Cuenca was able to lure Yang to a tactical fight from the opening round until Round 11.

He let Yang (19-1, 14 KOs) think of out-boxing him by staying in Yang's punching range but constantly moving from side to side and engaging from an angle. There's no way Yang can outbox Cuenca. Cuenca's punches were like good morning towel that wipes Yang's every morning. Yang did not make the drastic tactical adjustment until round 11, which was too late as Cuenca was too wide well ahead on the scorecards.

Yang forced Cuenca to a brawl in Round 12, which was really effective. Making it a war was Yang's right option if he wanted to win the fight but one round was not enough to rattle and topple the master tactician. Even a feather-fisted well-schooled boxer will always give trouble to a wild heavy-handed brawler.

Scott Quigg TKO 2 Kiko Martinez

If Nonito Donaire demolished Anthony Settoul in two rounds, Scott Quigg (31-0-2, 23 KOs) dispatched Spain's Kiko Martinez (32-6, 24 KOs) in two rounds too. This could set-up a Donaire-Quigg world title clash in the 122-pound division in Dubai, which is what promoter Bob Arum said. But it seemed the UK boxing fans were interested for a Quigg-Frampton showdown. Frampton won a UD against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr.

Carl Frampton UD 12 Alejandro Gonzalez Jr.

Still undefeated and held the IBF junior featherweight title Carl Frampton (21-0, 14 KOs) got up from twin knockdowns he suffered in the opening round and started racking up points from there. Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. (25-2-2, 15 KOs) lost two points for low blows. Official scores were: 116-108, 116-108 and 115-109. With Frampton's victory, UK boxing fans were excited of a Frampton-Quigg showdown but Quigg's trainer is looking the other way around.

Joe Gallagher, Quigg's trainer, is "interested in a Donaire fight" than a title match against Carl Frampton because of his past "experience" in dealing with Frampton's handlers.

McJoe Arroyo UD Technical Decision 10 Arthur Villanueva

A highly tactical super flyweight fight that appeared unpalatable to boxing fans ringside earning boos from them. The fight has been shortened by a deep cut resulting from accidental clash of heads and the fight went to the scorecards. Villanueva (27-1, 14 KOs) deducted a point in Round 6 for coming head-first. Official scores were: 98-91, 98-91 in favor of Arroyo (17-0, 8 KOs).

Other results for 18 July 2015 :

• Chris Jenkins Draw 12 Tyrone Nurse


• Amir Imam KO-4 Fernando Angulo


• Denis Shafikov TKO-3 Roy Mukhlis


• Darleys Perez Draw 12 Anthony Crolla


• Rex Tso TKO-4 Khunkhiri Wor Wisaruth


• Arthur Abraham TKO 6 Robert Stieglitz


• Fred Kassi DRAW Chris Arreola


• Charles Manyuchi TKO6 Gianluca Frezza


• Martín Murray TKO5 Mirzet Bajrektarevic

Results for 17 July 2015 :

• Sandor Martin TKO-1 Anzor Gamgebeli


• Suriyan Sor Rungvisai TKo-4 Ibuki Tanaka


• Srisaket Sor Rungvisai KO-1 Jack Amisa


• Jose Perez TKO-1 Rafael Castillo


• Takuya Kogawa UD 10 Hiroki Saito


• Nawaphon Por Chokchai (AKA Nawaphon Sor Rungvisai) TKO-3 Wiljan Ugbaniel


• Artem Dalakian UD 12 Angel Moreno


• Erkan Teper KO2 David Price

[caption id="attachment_1657" align="alignnone" width="570"] Photo Credit: Chris Farina/Top Rank[/caption]

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. wins UD 12 convincingly – at least – but not at all impressive – over as always game Bryan Vera in Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas.

Chavez was able to fight his fight.

Chavez (48-1-1, 32 KO's) fought effectively from the inside, throwing the heavier blows to the head and body of Vera. Although I’m convinced he won clearly, but he didn't dominate Vera, neither had he impressed the fans. Chavez simply landed more plus the harder blows.

To Vera’s credit he absorbed everything Chavez landed. He came out well-prepared against a now more focus son of Mexico’s legendary Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.

In Round 8 referee Rico Ramos deducted a point from Vera (23-8, 14 KO's) for pushing down Chaves head. The point deduction didn't matter at all because of the large margin in the judges’ scorecards.

In Round 12, Chavez chose to play it safe and disengage Vera. He moved around toying Vera.

The official scores were 117-110, 117-110, and 114-113.

Chavez's fading stars

Chavez was followed closely to those who still believed he can be an elite fighter. His growing numbers of critics, followed as well, not only by fight night, but also during the weigh in.

Chavez was horrible in the first fight weigh in. He struggled to make weight for the contracted 168 pounds fight and weighted in 186 pounds during fight night.

It is obvious that few fans didn’t bother to spend much of their hard earned bucks as the Alamodome was almost half empty with a reported 7000 plus gate attendance which is fairly low for a Chavez brand.

Do you think Chavez stock will raise again regardless whom he fights with regards to his performance tonight?