Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will return to the boxing ring for the first time in almost a year when he takes on internet star Jake Paul this Saturday.
The pay-per-view bout will be contested at cruiserweight as Chavez Jr. will look to hand Paul the second loss of his career.
Chavez Jr. has the highest number of professional fights out of any former opponent of Paul’s, even including Mike Tyson.
Paul will be one of the least experienced fighters that Chavez Jr. has faced. However, the Mexican fighter gave a rather bizarre ranking of some of his former opponents.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. disregards Anderson Silva as he blind ranks former opponents
In a promotional video for DAZN, Chavez Jr., son of one of the greatest Mexican boxers of all time, was asked to blindly rank his past five opponents.
The first name given to Chavez Jr. was Uriah Hall, a former UFC fighter. Chavez Jr. defeated Hall via unanimous decision in their last outing, and ranked the fighter in fourth place out of five.
The second name was David Zegarra, whom Chavez Jr. fought in 2021. The pair met in Mexico, as Chavez Jr. won via unanimous decision. Zegarra was given the number five spot by Chavez Jr.
Chavez Jr. then gave an unusual answer when Anderson Silva was mentioned. Despite losing to the former UFC champion, Chavez laughed and said, “Oh, 10,” implying that Silva was not close to the standard of other opponents.
Silva defeated Chavez Jr. via split decision when the pair met in 2021.
Chavez Jr. gave a similar answer for Mari Abel Cazares, giving him a ranking of 100. Chavez Jr. also lost to Cazares, having been bested via technical decision.
The fifth fighter who was mentioned was Jeyson Minda. The Mexican stopped Minda in the fourth round in 2020, in what was Chavez Jr.’s last career stoppage. He was also ranked fifth alongside Zegarra.
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Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has fought just once since 2021
When Chavez Jr. and Paul meet in the ring on Saturday, the American will be the more recently active fighter between the pair.
Chavez Jr.’s fight against Hall was his only fight since 2021 as he faced the MMA fighter in July 2024. As for Paul, he has competed seven times in this time.
Paul is 6-1 in this stretch, with Tommy Fury being the only fighter to get the better of him. In 2024, Paul beat Mike Perry and Tyson to improve his record to 11-1.