Canelo and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. both ready for Saturday’s fight

Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. refuted any notion that their upcoming fight in Las Vegas on Saturday wasn’t the fight that fans were hoping to see.

“The reason we made this fight is that’s what the people wanted to watch,” said Chavez. “We’re gonna do our best, but the critics will always be there.”

The 12-round super middleweight fight has been dubbed by some as the biggest fight ever to feature two Mexican boxers, while others have said they would rather have seen Canelo fight Gennady Golovkin, a.k.a. Triple-G.

Canelo enters the fight with a 48-1-1 record and 34 KOs. His only professional loss came in Las Vegas in 2013 against Floyd Mayweather.

Meanwhile, Chavez enters the contest with a 50-2-1 record and 32 stoppages.

Chavez has fought in El Paso three times in his career. Most recently, he defeated Marcos Reyes via unanimous decision after ten rounds at the Don Haskins Center in 2015. However, many fans at the Haskins Center turned against a sluggish Chavez and began rooting for Reyes that night.

As for Canelo, he says he treats every fight the same, no matter the opponent.

“Absolutely, every fight in my career is very important,” he said. “I’ve got to keep winning. I’ve got to keep writing history. I’ve got to keep building on my career.”

Saturday’s fight will be made available via HBO pay-per-view.