Chavez wins Nevada court injunction to fight Friday

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr scored an important legal victory Tuesday prior to his Friday night scheduled fight in Phoenix with Daniel Jacobs.

That’s when the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County, Nevada, (Las Vegas) ruled Tuesday afternoon in his favor and granted Chavez,  a Temporary Restraining Order against the Nevada Athletic Commission’s attempt to keep him suspended.

The ruling paves the way, apparently for now, for Chavez to fight Jacobs in the main event of Matchroom boxing/DAZN streaming show in Phoenix Saturday night.

The fight had been in jeopardy after Chavez was temporarily suspended November 20th by the NSAC  for failing to take a pre-fight drug test in October. When the representative from the Voluntary Anti-Dopiing Administration or VADA, showed up for a random sample at Chavez’s California Gym, he refused.

Chavez and his legal team, led by prominent Las Vegas attorney Ross Goodman, argued to the court that Chavez had not yet filled out paperwork for a boxing license in Nevada in October and did not hold a  federal drug testing ID for him to be tested, as it had expired in April.

The Clark County Court obviously agreed with that argument and will at least for now, allow the fight to go on. There is expected to be much more on the story later Tuesday when Chavez, Jacobs and promoter, Eddie Hearn, are expected to be at a press conference promoting the fight in Phoenix.

Chavez, the son of the legendary Mexican icon, is 51 – 3 – 1 with 33 KOs, but has never enjoyed anywhere near the world championship success of his father. Jacobs is the former IBF middleweight champion and is 35 – 3, 29 KOs. Jacobs lost a hard-fought 12 round battle to Canelo Alvarez for his IBF belt in Las Vegas in May.

Jacobs is looking for a possible rematch with Canelo in 2020 and a Chavez victory would help. Contender Gabriel Rosado, who is scheduled to fight on the undercard, has been waiting in the event Chavez remained suspended in Nevada to take his place and fight Jacobs.

Hear more about the Jacobs-Chavez, Jr. showdown, including predictions on our Big Fight Weekend, podcast:

After the drug test controversy at the end of October, Hearn and Matchroom Boxing chose to move the fight to Phoenix and the downtown Talking Stick Arena, where the Phoenix Suns play NBA games.

As we wrote last week, that incensed the NSAC and its director Bob Bennett, who fired off a warning letter about Hearn and Chavez Jr attempting to circumvent (get around) Nevada and VADA drug testing by skipping it. And then, going to fight somewhere else in the United States.

Bennet further threatened in that letter to Hearn that Matchroom Boxing was jeopardizing their license to put shows on in Nevada and facing possible suspension by violating the Muhammad Ali Act and U.S. Federal law. That law prohibits promoters from simply moving a fight that is forbidden for violations in one state to another state that will take the money/fight.

Hearn and Matchroom continued to sell tickets and promote the fight including this Monday night picture of the two in front of the Phoenix arena:

The first face-off on fight week… ? #JacobsChavezJr pic.twitter.com/J9Bovr5khO

— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) December 17, 2019

The Arizona boxing commission is due to have its regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday at which time, it appears they will give the final formality to clear Chavez Jr. to have a license and fight Jacobs Saturday night.