Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will return to the ring on Sept. 25 to face Mario Cazares in an event to take place in Tijuana, Mexico, that includes his legendary father, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., in an exhibition bout against Jorge “Travieso” Arce, fight organizers announced on Wednesday.
Chavez Jr. (51-4-1, 33 KOs) will face Cazares (11-0, 5 KOs) in a sanctioned 10-round light heavyweight bout. Cazares was the last fighter to defeat Canelo Alvarez as an amateur in 2004.
Chavez Jr., 34, had planned to return Oct. 17, but his father persuaded him to join his exhibition card.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission placed Chavez Jr. under indefinite suspension for refusing a random drug test ahead of his bout against Daniel Jacobs on Dec. 20. That middleweight fight eventually took in Phoenix, where Chavez Jr. quit in the fifth round with a broken nose to boos from the crowd.
The fight took place after Chavez Jr. won a temporary restraining order lifting the Nevada ban. However, the suspension was reinstated a few months later. Chavez Jr. has been training in California since.
Chavez Sr. and four-division champion and fellow Mexican legend Arce, will headline the card.
This is the third exhibition bout between Chavez Sr. and Arce. Another of Chavez Sr.’s sons, Omar (38-6-1, 25 KOs), joins the card in his first fight since a loss to Oziel Santoyo in June 2019. Arce’s nephew, Karim Arce (16-2, 7 KOs), is also scheduled to fight.
The event will be streamed live on pay-per-view.