WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is tentatively scheduled to return this November in a voluntary defense of his title, with the most likely candidate for his opponent being former Contender participant Peter Manfredo Jr.
Where he goes after this however isn’t so clear.
Chavez Jr’s promoter Bob Arum speaking to Dan Rafael earlier today said:
“I think we’ll try to do Chavez against Miguel Cotto next spring in a big pay-per-view, but in the meantime we’re looking at those guys for Chavez in the fall,”
Arum’s plans are likely dependent on Cotto winning his yet to be confirmed December rematch against Antonio Margarito, and of course Chavez winning his November defense.
If he goes ahead with this course of action though, Chavez Jr. might find himself doing so without his recently won title.
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Speaking to boxingscene earlier this week WBC president Jose Sulaiman clearly stated that after a voluntary defense, he is expecting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr to face champion emeritus and consensus number one middleweight in the world today Sergio Martinez.
A fight in which Chavez would be a huge underdog.
Why the WBC are suddenly keen on pitting Martinez against Chavez when it could be argued that they were instrumental in getting the undefeated Top Rank charge his title in the first place is puzzling.
Earlier this year HBO turned down a fight between then champion Martinez and Sebastian Zbik, eventually leading to the Argentinian winding up fighting the equally obscure Sergiy Dzinziruk instead for the WBC diamond belt and being named champion emeritus.
Shortly after this WBC ‘silver’ champion Chavez Jr. was then approved to fight Zbik on HBO and the vacant regular WBC title was thrown into the mix for the winner.
This as all too often happens in the sport today lead to the WBC having two champions in the same division.
For once though the WBC appear to be attempting to do the right thing in this instance, reducing the number of champions to one and forcing the best fighters in the division (according to their rankings anyway) to face each other. Advertisement
Whether they would actually strip an active and emergent star such as Chavez in favor of an obviously better but less lucrative and much older fighter such as Martinez will have to remain to be seen.
The WBC are no strangers to not playing by their own rules and have been criticized numerous times in the past about chasing the most financially rewarding option open to them rather than taking the right course of action.
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But clearly Martinez doesn’t figure into Bob Arum and Top Rank’s plans for Chavez Jr, who more because of his name than achievements to date is a big seller and may emerge as a genuine star so long as he continues winning.
Chavez losing to Martinez would damage his marketability and lose Top Rank millions they have spent in marketing, so clearly for them the bout isn’t an attractive option.
How Chavez will get around Martinez with his title in tow isn’t clear yet, although don’t bet on the ever wily Arum ever playing to Sulaiman’s tune if it doesn’t serve his best interests.
James Clark, Pitt: “Arum will never feed Chavez to Martinez, if he has to give him a decent opponent he’ll keep the title in house”
