By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (43-0-1, 30 KO’s) has decided to slip in a fairly safe money fight against bottom 15 World Boxing Council ranked fringe contender Ronald Hearns (26-2, 20 KO’s) on September 17th at the Palengue, in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Although Chavez’s promoter and trainers both have advised him not to take this fight and wait instead until his scheduled November 19th fight against Peter Manfredo Jr, Chavez has opted to take the fight with the 32-year-old Hearns anyway. Chavez Jr likely wants to get in another quick payday before taking on Manfredo, which should be another fairly safe fight.

It’s getting two for the price of one. The good thing about a Hearns fight is that Chavez Jr doesn’t have much to worry about. Hearns is slender, not particularly rugged and will likely fold early on if Chavez comes at him hard with power early on in the fight. If Chavez Jr lets Hearns hang around past the 6th, Chavez Jr will absorb some punishment because Hearns has a decent right hand that will likely find Chavez’s exposed head repeatedly.

Chavez Jr has shown in his last two fights that his defensive skills are lacking to the extreme. He may be trained by a good trainer in Freddie Roach, but he doesn’t seem to be getting any better on the defensive side of his game. The only thing that looks to have improved under Roach is Chavez’s conditioning, and even that is still very limited. He looked exhausted in his last two fights, struggling to beat the WBC paper champion Sebastian Zbik last June, and having a hard time beating a small junior middleweight fringe contender Billy Lyell in January. Chavez Jr is considered the new WBC paper champion by many boxing fans, meaning he’s not considered to be a very good champion.

Roach didn’t want Chavez to take a fight in September because he wouldn’t be able to work with him very much because of his commitment to training Manny Pacquiao, who is fighting in November. Roach had hoped that Chavez Jr would listen to him and not take the fight. However, Chavez Jr may feel that it’s a fight that he can win even without Roach’s training and he’s probably right on that front. If Chavez Jr can’t beat a fighter like Hearns, he has no business taking on better guys.

Provided that Chavez gets by Hearns, he’ll face Manfredo in November. That’s another what you would call safe fight for Chavez. Manfredo is someone that hasn’t really beaten anyone to deserve the No.5 ranking by the WBC, and was beaten by guys like Jeff Lacy, Joe Calzaghe and destroyed by Sakio Bika. Manfredo does a great job against B and C level opposition, but struggles when put in with A class fighters. Chavez Jr obviously isn’t an A class fighter, but if he comes into the fight weighing over 180 pounds like he did in his last fight, he’ll beat Manfredo.

Chavez Jr may have to fight former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez next year in early 2012. The WBC wants Chavez Jr. to fight Martinez, who is the Emeritus champion. However, it’s rather doubtful that Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum will allow that to happen. He wants to put Chavez Jr in big paying bouts against Saul Alvarez and Miguel Cotto. Martinez would ruin those grand plans by knocking Chavez Jr out without any problems, which would take those fights off the table. To be sure, Arum could still end up matching Chavez up against one of those fighters but the interest will be much less after Chavez suffers his first knockout loss.