By Jason Kim: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KO’s) plans for a quick return to the ring in either January or February 2012 to fight a tune-up bout on HBO to get ready for a big money fight against the winner of next months’ clash between WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.

That’s the fight that Chavez Jr’s promoter Bob Arum wants for him. The World Boxing Council will likely allow Chavez Jr. to side step his #1 contender Marco Antonio Rubio, as well as WBC Emeritus champion Sergio Martinez, who supposedly was promised by the WBC a fight against Chavez Jr. next. It’s doubtful that the WBC will force Chavez Jr. to fight either Rubio or Martinez. As such, Chavez Jr. will most likely be able to hand pick an opponent from the bottom of the pack of fringe contenders so he can get an easy tune-up fight.

In Chavez’s last fight, he defeated number #4 ranked contender Peter Manfredo Jr. by a 5th round stoppage. The weird about Manfredo’s ranking is that when the fight was first signed, Manfredo was ranked low near the bottom by the WBC but then as the weeks went by and the fight got closer, Manfredo was pushed all the way up to the number #4 spot. Very weird, I think. At best, I felt Manfredo deserved no better than #25 in the division and certainly not a #4 ranking by the WBC. But things worked out well for Chavez Jr., who got an easy win over a highly ranked contender.

If Chavez Jr. were forced to defend his WBC title against either Rubio or Martinez, Chavez Jr. would probably get destroyed. But if the WBC allows him to bypass Martinez and Rubio, then Chavez Jr. can get a nice safe fight against a lower ranked fighter before getting a big money fight against the Cotto vs. Margarito winner.