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Chavez-Vera II aimed for March 1, Arum likes Donaire vs. Walters

Fighters Network
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A rematch between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Bryan Vera is being considered for March 1 either in Las Vegas “or one of the Texas towns,” Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told RingTV.com.

Vera, whose home state is Texas, lost a controversial 10-round unanimous decision to Chavez in Carson, Calif., in September. That bout took place at a 173-pound catchweight because Chavez was not able to make the originally contracted weights. The return bout will happen at the super middleweight limit of 168, according to Arum.

Arum met with Pelullo in Corpus Christi this past week in advance of Saturday’s HBO-televised tripleheader featuring Nonito Donaire’s stoppage of Vic Darchinyan , Mikey Garcia’s knockout that dethroned WBO junior lightweight beltholder Roman “Rocky” Martinez, and Demetrius Andrade‘s WBO 154-pound title winning split decision over Vanes Martirosyan.



The rematch was originally supposed to take place in February but Arum said the new date was chosen to avoid conflict with the Feb. 7-through- 23 Winter Olympics in Russia.

“That’s what we’re looking at, but we’re not sure yet. It will either be in Las Vegas or one of the Texas towns,” said Arum. “They (HBO) don’t want to go against the Winter Olympics.”

According to CompuBox, Vera had a 176-125 advantage in overall punches landed, as well as winning 109-98 in power shots compared to Chavez, who was awarded the decision by scores of 96-94, 97-93, and 98-92, by Carla Caiz, Marty Denkin and Gwen Adair, respectively.

Of a poll of 59 media members, 53 scored the bout in favor of Vera, with six draws. In its round-by-round,RingTV.com scored the fight for Vera, 97-93.

Click here for RingTV.com’s Chavez-Vera round-by-round.

ARUM EYES DONAIRE-NICHOLAS WALTERS

Arum said he would like to match Donaire with Jamaican featherweight contender Nicholas Walters, who scored his third consecutive stoppage win on Saturday, doing so at 1:57 of the fourth round over Mexican rival Alberto Garza.

A 27-year-old who is nicknamed “The Axe Man,” Walters improved to 23-0 with his 19th knockout victory, and Garza fell to 25-6-1 with 20 knockouts.

“Walters punches like a mule,” said Arum. “He’s not technically great, but geez, is he strong. That fight would be a great fight. It would be bombs away. We’ll have to talk to Nonito to see when he’s ready to fight again. Walters ready to go as soon as possible, so we’ll figure it out.”

According to ESPN.com, Donaire suffered a possible fracture to his cheek in the fight with Darchinyan.

Photos / Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]

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