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Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. &
Nonito Donaire
World Championship Doubleheader Feb. 4
Undefeated World Middleweight Champion and the Son of the
Legend, JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ, JR., and Top-Five pound-for
pound fighter and three-division world champion NONITO “The
Filipino Flash” DONAIRE will headline a world title
doubleheader, Saturday, February 4, at the Alamodome in San
Antonio. Chávez Jr. will be taking on No. 1 contender MARCO
ANTONIO RUBIO. Donaire will rumble with former junior
featherweight champion WILFREDO VAZQUEZ JR. for the vacant
World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior featherweight title.
The fights will be televised live on HBO World Championship
Boxing®, beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.
Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Zanfer Promotions
and Tecate, tickets to the Chávez Jr. / Donaire world
championship doubleheader go on sale This Saturday! December
31 at 10 a.m. CT. Tickets, priced at $200, $100, $60, $40
and $25, can be purchased at the Alamodome box office, all
Ticketmaster outlets, online at
www.ticketmaster.com and via Ticketmaster
charge-by-phone lines at (800) 745-3000.
Combined, these four warriors boast a combined record of
145-7-3 (114 KOs) – a winning percentage of 94% and a
victory by knockout ratio of 79%.
"In 2011, Julio Cesar Chávez Jr came into his own, winning
the world middleweight title from Sebastian Zbik followed by
a win in a title defense against Peter Manfredo Jr,” said
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum. "The New Year promises to be
even bigger for Julio, but first he is in a difficult
challenge against No. 1-ranked challenger Marco Antonio
Rubio. This should be a real battle. Also on Feb 4, Nonito
Donaire continues his march through the weight divisions
when he takes on Wilfredo Vazquez Jr for the vacant WBO
Junior Featherweight Championship."
Chávez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KOs), of Culiacan, México, making his
first appearance in San Antonio since 2010, is the son of
Mexico’s greatest fighter Julio César Chávez. Chávez, 25,
took up the “family business” in 2003, winning a four-round
decision in his professional debut. Eight years later, the
reigning World Middleweight Champion and superior gate
attraction is poised to make his own mark in the boxing
world. He took a major step toward that goal by enlisting
legendary trainer Freddie Roach to take him to the next
level. Their first fight together was a gigantic success, a
dominant 12-round unanimous decision victory over top-10
contender John Duddy (29-1, 18 KOs) in June 2010 at the
Alamodome in San Antonio. After his January 29 unanimous
decision win over Billy Lyell, Chávez Jr. became the second
family member to win a world title, dethroning undefeated
World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion Sebastian
Zbik via a majority decision. That June 4 slugfest took
place at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles just a few blocks
north of the Olympic Auditorium where the legendary Julio
César Chávez won his first world title. Chávez Jr.
successfully defended his title on November 19 with a
fifth-round knockout of Top-Five contender Peter Manfredo at
Reliant Arena in Houston.
Rubio (53-5-1, 47 KOs), of Torreon, México, enters this
fight riding a two-year, 10-bout winning streak with nine of
those victories coming by way of knockout. This will be
Rubio’s second crack at the middleweight crown. He went nine
exciting rounds in his unsuccessful challenge against
unified world champion Kelly Pavlik in 2009. Since then, he
has scored knockout victories of Rigoberto Alvarez and David
Lemieux in WBC middleweight title elimination bouts as well
as Jose Zertuche and Matt Vanda in WBC Latin America title
fights en route to his No. 1 world rating.
Donaire (27-1, 18 KOs), a native of General Santos City,
Philippines, now living in the Bay Area of San Leandro,
Calif., is a consensus top-five pound for pound fighter. He
enters this fight riding a nine-year, 26-bout winning
streak, which includes an IBF/IBO flyweight title knockout
victory of defending champion Vic Darchinyan, and a
fourth-round blasting of former WBA bantamweight champion
Wladimir Sidorenko, December 4, 2010. However, Donaire’s
most impressive victory occurred on February 19, when he
knocked out defending WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Fernando
Montiel in the second round, ending Montiel’s 25-bout
winning streak while also claiming his third world title in
as many weight divisions. That victory has been named the
2011 Knockout of the Year. Ten of Donaire’s last 12
victories have come by way of knockout. In his last fight,
Donaire successfully defended his World Bantamweight
Championship blitzing undefeated Omar Narvaez and winning
virtually every round en route to a unanimous decision win.
Vazquez (21-1-1, 18 KOs), of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, strung
together a four-year, 21-bout unbeaten streak, beginning
with his pro debut, culminating with Vazquez winning the WBO
junior featherweight championship. Vazquez captured the
world title in 2010, knocking out Marvin Sonsona in the
fourth round. He successfully defended the title twice
during the following eight months, scoring knockouts of
Zsolt Bedak and Ivan Hernandez in the 10th and 11th rounds,
respectively. After losing the title to Jorge Arce in May,
he bounced back in October with a third-round knockout of
Roberto Leyva.
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