canelo vs. Chavez Jr: Las Vegas main candidate for venue

By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya appears to be leaning in the direction of Las Vegas, Nevada for the city where his fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) will do battle with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) on May 6. The decision on the venue for the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight is expected to be decided in the next two weeks.

It’s important that the venue be decided quickly if the fight is going to be staged at the huge 90,000 seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Canelo failed to sell out the venue for his last fight against former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith on September 17 last year.

Having the fight in Las Vegas will be good for the city. It will bring in a lot of boxing fans to see the Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. fight, and the fans will spend their money on things like hotel rooms, food, drink, and gambling.

De La Hoya says it was Canelo’s idea for him to fight Chavez Jr. He wanted that fight. De La Hoya says he does what his boxers say when it comes to match-making. A lot of boxing fans question the need for a fight between Canelo and Chavez Jr. right now. The fans aren’t against the fight, but they largely feel that Canelo should be facing Gennady Golovkin rather than Chavez Jr., because it looks like he’s ducking him.

De La Hoya said this to ESPN Deportes about Canelo’s fight against Chavez Jr:

“We going to take it one step at a time,” said De La Hoya about potentially working with other boxers from Al Haymon’s stable in the future. “Canelo wanted this fight, and we gave it to him. What the boxers say, we do it.”

In speaking about the venue for the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight, De La Hoya said, “Obviously, I have to do what’s best for my fighter, and I have to do what’s best for the boxers. We’re talking to Dallas and to Las Vegas, It’s time for Las Vegas to have a fight of this magnitude on May 6, but we’ll see. We are in the process. We are talking to those who are interested and everyone is interested,” said De La Hoya about the venue for the Canelo-Chavez Jr.

Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. will obviously sell a lot of tickets and bring in a large number of PPV buys on HBO. Canelo will likely lose some hardcore boxing fans by taking this fight rather than fighting Golovkin. The boxing world wasn’t calling for a fight between Canelo and Chavez Jr. A lot of Mexican fans want to see this fight, but it’s not one that is in demand right now.

If Chavez Jr. had been more active in the last 5 years of his career then it might be a different story, but he hasn’t been fighting frequently. Chavez Jr. hasn’t been fighting good opposition either, which is another reason why it makes little sense for Canelo to be fighting him.