According to Top Rank President Todd duBoef, WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has agreed to terms to face middleweight contender on June 16 in El Paso, Texas. "Andy Lee set for June 16 against Chavez Jr in El Paso at Sun Bowl. Watch on @HBO live," he posted moments ago on his official Twitter page. Chavez Jr. was originally set to face Martin Murray on the date, but Murray's inabilitiy to secure a visa forced him to pull out of the fight. For the past two weeks, it was common knowledge that both Vanes Martirosyan and Andy Lee were the leading candidates to replace Murray, however, the Chavez Jr. camp was in a disagreement with Top Rank about the contract that was being presented to them. Apparently, promoter Bob Arum wanted Chavez Jr. to agree to a two-fight contract extension despite the fact that he still has over a year left on his current contract. Evidently, that issue has now been resolved.
In an interview with FightHype, Chavez Jr. made it crystal clear that he had no problems fighting either Martirosyan or Lee on June 16, but he was not going to sign any extensions. "I'm okay with whoever they choose for me to fight. I trust Top Rank. They are my promoter. They're very good promoters, but I want to make one thing very clear, I will not be forced to sign extensions to get my fights that are owed to me," he explained. "I have not spoke to Bob Arum directly, but I am told that they want me to sign an extension in order to get a fight. I want it to be clear that I will not sign any extension in order to get my June fight." Promoter Bob Arum would later try to blame Chavez Jr.'s manager, Billy Keane, and his strength-and-conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, accusing them of trying to prevent Chavez Jr. from fighting on the date. Ariza, however, promptly set the record straight, blasting Arum for lying and suggesting that the crafty promoter was simply trying to hide the fact that he threatened to put Chavez Jr. on the shelf if he didn't sign the two-fight extension. According to sources, not long after Ariza's interview went public, Top Rank presented a new contract to Chavez Jr. that had no contract extensions, which cleared the way for the bout with Lee to be made.
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