Chavez Jr. vs. Zbik, Martirosyan vs. Roman on June 4th

By Dan Amrbrose: Unbeaten #1 World Boxing Council middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) challenges WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik (30-0, 10 KO’s) on June 4th at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. Also on the card will be unbeaten Vanes Martirosyan (29-0, 18 KO’s) facing #8 ranked WBC junior middleweight contender Saul Roman (34-8, 18 KOs) for the vacant WBC Silver junior middleweight title. The Chavez-Zbik fight looks to be the better fight because Roman is limping into the Martirosyan fight having lost three out of his last five bouts and should consider himself incredibly lucky to be ranked in the top 10 with that many losses in recent fights.

Zbik had the WBC give him the WBC title rather than having to fight for the belt after the WBC stripped champion Sergio Martinez of the title because he failed to defend the title against his mandatory challenger. As such, Zbik is considered a paper champion by a lot of fans and will be facing Chavez Jr., who has been given the number #1 ranking based on wins over 2nd tier opposition for the most part. The Chavez Jr. vs. Zbik bout matches up two fighters with inflated records and few wins over proven quality opposition.

The winner of the Chavez vs. Zbik bout will be in a good position to either milk the WBC title against light opposition for awhile or get a good paying fight – if it’s Chavez Jr. who wins – against someone like Miguel Cotto. Neither fighter will likely get put in with Martinez because he’s probably considered too dangerous and would be someone that would stop the gravy train before it starts flowing.

Chavez Jr. will likely beat Zbik by a narrow decision. Zbik doesn’t have much power and mostly jabs and throws slow combinations. He’s neither fast nor powerful. Chavez Jr. has a little bit of power, but not a lot. He’s slow and has poor defensive skills. Either of these guys would be in trouble against fighters like Kelly Pavlik and Martinez, as well as a number of other top middleweights. However, Chavez Jr. is a big ticket seller and brings in good ratings. If the fight is even remotely close, look for Chavez Jr. to get the decision.

Martirosyan hasn’t been all that active since beating Joe Greene last year in June. Martirodyan then took nine months off and recently beat Bladimir Hernandez by a 2nd round knockout in March.

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