SAN ANTONIO – There was Bob Arum. There was Wilfredo Vazquez Sr. There were Nonito Donaire and Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. There were Jose Sulaiman and Lupe Contreras. There were Marco Antonio Rubio and a mariachi band adorned in tight rose-colored garb and silver buckles. They were all waiting – waiting for Junior.
Friday at Alamodome, 25 minutes after he was scheduled to take the scale, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KOs), who will face fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio (53-5-1, 46 KOs) for the WBC middleweight title Saturday night, led his entourage to the stage. In a moment it was over; Chavez Jr. had weighed 159 1/2 pounds and Rubio had made 159, and the last of their prefight rituals was finished.
Chavez Jr. arrived in royal-blue workout attire – every thread of which he removed before taking the scale – and arrived looking drawn but otherwise unworried. After skipping an open workout Tuesday, under orders from his fitness trainer, Alex Ariza, Chavez did not hurry to endear himself to Alamo City fans. Instead he went through the motions, did no more than necessary, and did little to disabuse those who commented on his arrogance this week.
Chavez Jr., who has not faced another Mexican national since stopping Raul Munoz five years ago, might be surprised how transient his fans’ collective loyalty can be – if he gets in trouble against Rubio, Saturday. Chavez Jr. is absolutely the ticket-seller for this event, one expected to attract 12,000-14,000 fans, but fighting, as he will, before a South Texas crowd, more than a partisan-Mexican one, he could find more than a few in attendance cheer his opponent.
Before Chavez Jr. and Rubio took the scale, Friday, “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire (27-1, 18 KOs) and Puerto Rican Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (21-1-1, 18 KOs) each made weight for their WBO super bantamweight title match. Donaire weighed 121.6 pounds, and Vazquez Jr. weighed 122.
Donaire, who strolled through the Alamodome crowd in what appeared to be a Tampa Bay Lightning hat cocked sideways, was his usual picture of quiet confidence. Vazquez, though, possessed the more chiseled physique onstage and did not tire of showing it to a small Puerto Rican contingent gathered behind the barrier.
Alamodome doors for “Welcome to the Future” will open at 5:30 PM local time, Saturday, with first bell scheduled to ring at 6:30.