Before they touch gloves Saturday night for what is one of the most anticipated fights of the year, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will hit the scales on Friday.
The weigh-in is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. ET. You can watch a live stream via the embedded video at the top of this page.
Weight, of course, is a key storyline heading into this battle between two of Mexico’s brightest stars. With the catchweight set at 164.5 pounds, many have wondered if Chavez Jr. would be able to get under that threshold in time. Though he’s a former world champion at 160 pounds, the 6-foot-1 star has fought between 168 and 172 in the last several years and has often times had trouble even making that.
Still, he’s confident he’ll come in under 164.5 on Friday night.
“I’ve been making my way to this fight. My last fight was at 168 pounds,” he said. “This fight isn’t going to be any different from any other fight that I have had in the past.”
Should that be nothing more than talk, JC Jr. is going to pay dearly. If he comes in at 164.6 or higher, he’ll have to pay Canelo $1 million for every pound he’s overweight. The penalty is in place for both fighters, but there’s no concerns for Canelo, whose last two fights have been at 155 and 154 pounds.
“(Chavez) is in good shape, woke up at 167 this morning,” said Chavez’s trainer, Angel Heredia, earlier this week. “He knows $1 million is a lot to give.”
Assuming they both make weight, the fight is scheduled for Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The HBO PPV card starts at 9 p.m. ET, with the main event expected to begin sometime around 11 p.m. ET.
