By Jim Dower: World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) could take on replacement opponent former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (32-3-1, 28 KO’s) on December 4th, if the originally scheduled fighter Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) opts not to take the fight. The bout will be taking place at Madison Square Garden, in New York. The word is that the 24-year-old Chavez Jr. won’t be traveling to the Philippines to spar with Manny Pacquiao and help get him ready for his next fight with Antonio Margarito on November 13th.

Chavez’s trainer, Freddie Roach, wanted Chavez Jr. to train with Pacquiao so that he could get Chavez ready for Cotto at the same time that he was getting his other fighter Pacquiao ready for his fight. However, with Chavez Jr. not reportedly planning on going to the Philippines to train with Roach, it’s leaving no opponent for Cotto to fight on December 4th. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum will then fill it with Cintron, 30, unless Chavez Jr. changes his mind about taking the trip to the Philippines to begin his training. Chavez Jr. just recently started training with Roach before his last fight against fringe middleweight contender John Duddy in June.

Chavez Jr. looked greatly improved in that fight, beating Duddy by a fairly lopsided 12 round unanimous decision on June 26th at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas. It’s not known why Chavez Jr. doesn’t want to go to the Philippines to train right now. A fight with Cotto would seem to be an ideal fight for Chavez Jr., because it would give him a big payday and a lot of attention around the United States.

It’s obviously a fight in which Chavez Jr. would have to fight at his very best for him to win, and it’s not likely he would win that fight. But Chavez Jr. could still learn a lot from the Cotto fight, and it he at least looked good in losing, it would win him a lot of boxing fans. Chavez has fought mostly 2nd tier opposition during his career, and boxing fans have been eager to see him finally start taking on top tier opposition.

Recently, the WBC made Chavez Jr. the mandatory challenger for WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. It could be that Chavez Jr. has decided to take that fight rather than the Cotto bout. Martinez is thought to be even better than Cotto by many boxing fans, and it could be an even worse defeat for Chavez Jr. if he elects to take that fight. There are few people that would likely pick Chavez Jr. in a fight against Sergio Martinez. That might be a huge mismatch.

Cintron was recently involved in a bizarre fight against Paul Williams in May, in which Cintron flew out of the ring in the 4th round and injured himself just when the fight was heating up. Williams won the fight by a 4th round technical decision, but a lot of boxing fans felt that Cintron had leaped out of the ring on purpose to avoid getting knocked out by Williams. That’s sounds hard to believe, because Cintron has always been a warrior. Cintron needs a win right now. He defeated Alfrado Angulo last year and looked great. However, he’s been stopped twice by Antonio Margarito early in the fight. Cotto might have too much power for Cintron unless he can get to Cotto with his power shots first and hurt him. I like this fight much better than the Chavez-Cotto fight because Cintron has a real chance of beating Cotto. I can’t say the same thing for Chavez Jr.