Notebook: Chavez family takes center stage for 'Tribute to the Kings' PPV

Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., the most legendary fighter in Mexican boxing history, has participated in various exhibition bouts since retiring in 2005. But the 58-year-old claims that his six-round exhibition against Hector Camacho Jr. will be the last one.

They will meet on the “Tribute to the Kings” card that also includes Chavez’s two fighting sons, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Omar Chavez, in official bouts on Saturday (Integrated Sports PPV and FITE, 9 p.m. ET, $39.99) at Jalisco Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“It has been a long time since I retired,” Chavez said. “It has been a blast to do these exhibitions. There are definitely a lot of feelings here. It is going to be a great fight.”

Chavez boxed in official fights for 24 years, won world titles in three divisions (junior lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight), faced numerous top opponents and became one of the greatest fighters and biggest stars in history.

One of Chavez’s biggest fights was in September 1992, on Mexican Independence Day weekend, when cruised to a one-sided decision against fellow Hall of Famer Hector Camacho Sr. to retain the WBC junior welterweight title for the ninth time in a Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry fight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Camacho Sr. was 50 when he was shot to death in a car in Puerto Rico in 2012.

“When I heard the news that (Camacho Jr.’s) father died, I reached out to his family,” Chavez Sr. said. “It was a sad day for me. I had a lot of love and appreciation for him.”

Chavez Sr. said when the prospect of facing Camacho Jr. was first brought to him he was not interested.

“First, I said no, because he is too young for me,” Chavez Sr. said. “But when they told me it was a tribute to my great friend (Camacho Sr.), who is in heaven, I accepted immediately. Between Mexico and Puerto Rico there has always been a great rivalry, but ‘Macho’ Camacho never offended me or used rude words and we became great friends. I love him to heaven; he knows it, although now he must be angry about the beating I'm going to give his son.”

Camacho Jr. (59-7-1, 33 KOs), 42, who has not fought since 2019, never reached the level of his father during his professional career. He took the exhibition with Chavez Sr. (107-6-2, 85 KOs) supposedly to exact some sort of revenge for his father’s loss from 29 years ago.

“It's a pleasure to be the last man to fight Julio Cesar Chavez,” Camacho Jr. said. “This is special for me representing my father. This is the biggest fight of my career. My father will be looking down on me. There is a story as he fought my father and now his son. When I was a little kid, I could see how big my father was. Everybody took pictures with him. My father was humble like Julio.”

Chavez Jr. blows weight again

In the main event, MMA legend Anderson Silva will fight Chavez Jr. in an official eight-round match in yet another example of an MMA fighter crossing over to boxing.

The bout was contracted at 182 pounds, which Silva made at Friday’s weigh-in, but Chavez Jr., with a long history of missing weight or forcing contracts to be redone at the last minute to account for his weight troubles, was 184.4. He will pay Silva $100,000 from his purse and the fight will go on.

“The Spider” Silva registered his disgust on social media about Chavez missing weight.

“Well guys, I’ve been a combat sports professional for over 20 years,” Silva wrote. “I’ve always accomplished my duties inside and outside of the ring. The contractual weight for tomorrow’s fight is 182 lbs, which I accomplished through months of hard work alongside my team. Unfortunately my opponent came in at 184.4 lbs. Despite this, I will still put on a great show for you all.”

Silva, 46, who was 34-11 with 23 KOs during his famed MMA career, has always had an interest in boxing. This will be his third pro boxing match. The previous two, both scheduled for four rounds, were in his native Brazil, a first-round knockout loss in 1998 and a second-round knockout win in 2005.

“My entire life I want to challenge myself,” said Silva, who was released from his UFC contract at his request last year. “I have trained boxing for many years. I come to box here to show respect for the Mexican people. I am not here for MMA. I am here to compete for the respect in boxing.”

Chavez Jr. (52-5-1, 34 KOs), 35, who is 2-3 in his last five bouts since 2017, not only has missed weight multiple times but he has also quit when things got tough. He was heavily criticized for quitting in the fifth round against Daniel Jacobs in December 2019, a fight for which he missed weight by five pounds and paid Jacobs $1 million from his purse for the fight to go ahead.

Before he missed weight, Chavez had this to say, some of which obviously wasn’t true: “It was a bit strange to hear that this fight with Anderson Silva came about, but I am ready for this. I am not going to have the issues at this weight that I had before. I have been preparing myself very well. You will see the difference in my performance.”

Also on the pay-per-view, Omar Chavez (38-6-1, 25 KOs), 31, will face Ramon Alvarez (28-8-3, 16 KOs), 34, the older brother of pound-for-pound king and unified super middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez, in a 10-round middleweight fight that will serve as their rubber match after splitting two previous bouts.

They first met in a junior middleweight bout in 2014 and Alvarez won a unanimous 10-round decision. In their 2017 rematch, at 156 pounds, Chavez knocked out Alvarez out in the second round.

Quick hits

Weights from Houston for Saturday’s Premier Boxing Champions card on Showtime: Jermall Charlo 160 pounds, Juan Macias Montiel 159.6 (for Charlo’s WBC middleweight title); Isaac Cruz 133, Francisco Vargas 134; Angelo Leo 122, Aaron Alameda 123.4 (Alameda over the contract weight of 122 and he was fined an undisclosed amount but the fight will still go on); Miguel Flores 127, Diuhl Olguin 127.8; Michael Angeletti 121.4, Luis Javier Valdes 122; Richard Medina 129.4, Omar Castillo 130.6; Willie Jones 147.4, Brian Jones 146.6; Desmond Lyons 129.2, Jose Ibarra 128.6.

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Weights from Las Vegas for Saturday’s Top Rank on ESPN card: Naoya Inoue 118 pounds, Michael Dasmarinas 117.4 (for Inoue’s unified bantamweight world title); Mikaela Mayer 129.8, Erica Farias 128.2 (for Mayer’s WBO women’s junior lightweight title); Adam Lopez 126, Isaac Dogboe 125.4; Lindolfo Delgado 141.6, Salvador Briceno 141.2; Eric Puente 136, Jose Antonio Meza 136.6; Omar Rosario 140.5, JJ Mariano 140.

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Weights from El Paso, Texas, for Saturday’s Golden Boy card on DAZN: Jaime Munguia 159.6 pounds, Kamil Szeremeta 159.8; Bektemir “Bully” Melikuziev 168, Gabriel Rosado 168; Ibeth Zamora 111.4, Marlen Esparza 111.4 (for Zamora’s WBC women’s flyweight title); Blair Cobbs 146.8, Brad Soloman 146.8; Raul Curiel 147, Ferdinand Keroyban 146.4; Alexis Rocha 146.6, Jameson Bacon 145.4; Tristan Kalkreuth 197.2, Demetrius Banks 196; Manuel Flores 117.4, Daniel Lozano 117; Jousce Gonzalez 141.4, Gabriel Gutierrez 146.6.

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Weights from Guadalajara, Mexico for the “Tribute to the Kings” PPV: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. 184.4 pounds, Anderson Silva 182; Julio Cesar Chavez 143, Hector Camacho Jr. 160 (exhibition); Omar Chavez 161.1, Ramon Alvarez 160; Damian Sosa 153.4, Abel Mina 153.6; Kevin Torres 138.4, Jorge Melendez 137.8.

Show and tell

I started covering boxing for USA Today in March 2000 and hit the road to cover a couple of fights that spring but the first really big fight I ever covered was the first fight between then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya and former lightweight champion Sugar Shane Mosley, who skipped over junior welterweight, won two welterweight bouts and then challenged De La Hoya. They had known each other since they were kids and Mosley even helped De La Hoya prepare for the 1992 Olympics. Their pro showdown was years in the making — the fight was dubbed “Destiny” — and when they finally met in the main event of the first-ever boxing event at Staples Center in their hometown of Los Angeles it was a big deal. I remember being extremely excited to travel to cover the fight. It was my first trip to California. It was the first Top Rank event I ever covered in person. And it marked the first time I met many people I have come to know very well over the years. It was the first time I met De La Hoya and Mosley (both of whom I would cover in person many times thereafter), promoter Bob Arum (who hugged me upon our first meeting), his staff and several of boxing writers I would cover many fights with.

I have numerous vivid memories of that fight week, not the least of which was waking up a day or two before the fight excited to get the newspaper from outside my hotel room door to see the sports section cover story on the fight that I had written in print. In picking up my paper I noticed a USA Today in front of every single door up and down the hallway. That was cool moment I’ll never forget.

On fight night, the star power at ringside was incredible. There were famous movie and TV stars, top professional athletes, music stars and politicians everywhere. There was as much glitz and glamour at ringside that night than at any fight I have ever covered.

And then the fight more than lived up to the hype. De La Hoya and Mosley waged a legit great fight. It remains one of the best I have ever covered. They displayed fighting hearts in a great action battle fought at the highest skill level possible. The toe-to-toe 12th round was unforgettable as they both believed the fight was on the table and went for a knockout. In the end, Mosley won a well-deserved split decision and the title. The fight was June 17, 2000 — 21 years ago on Thursday. Here is my ringside credential from the fight.

Chavez Sr.-Camacho Jr. and Chavez Jr.-Silva photos: Chris Farina; Charlo-Macias: Esther Lin/Showtime