The Julio Cesar Chavez Jr vs. Bryan Vera weigh-in was held this afternoon in advance of their middleweight fight on Saturday night, televised on HBO. Scratch that, super middleweight fight. Wait, no, light heavyweight contest.
If one fighter is essentially allowed to weigh whatever in the hell he pleases, what’s the point of the weigh-in, or of weight classes? That’s the unfortunate situation we find ourselves in for Chavez Jr vs. Vera.
Official Chavez Jr vs. Vera Weights:
- Chavez Jr.: 172.4 lbs
- Vera: 171.2 lbs
The fight has gradually moved from 163 pounds to 168 pounds to “whatever in the hell we can pay off Vera to fight at”.
Chavez Jr’s weight problems have been common knowledge over the past few weeks, and for a fighter coming off a year of inactivity, fueled in part by failed tests for marijuana, with a new trainer because Freddie Roach couldn’t deal with his lack of effort, I’m not sure if it’s the most obvious result we all should have expected, or the most surprising, because he’s done nothing to change the public perception fans and media have of him, or to right the shaky course of his career.
Chavez Jr. is the huge favorite in this fight, and he was always going to be favored over Vera. It’s ridiculous though that he and his team have simply been changing the rules as they go. Vera will earn an extra cut of the money to go along with the fight instead of cancelling the match, and he’ll be even more overmatched and outsized when the two step into the ring.
The commission, the promoters or somebody should have had a hand in derailing this absurdity. Instead, Bob Arum and Co. actually tried to use this is a tool to sell the fight because of the intrigue.
Also, here’s a video of Bryan Vera from his recent media work out, and he has some more than choice words for his opponent:
