By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank Promotions is reporting that their fighter WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KO’s) will be defending his title against highly respected contender Andy Lee (28-1, 20 KO’s) on June 16th at the Sun Bowl, in El Paso, Texas.

Lee is by far the best fighter that Chavez Jr. has faced in his career and we may finally see Chavez Jr. suffer his first loss of his career even if he comes into the fight out-weighing Lee by 20 pounds at 180lbs.

Chavez Jr’s promoters at Top Rank had been toying with the idea of matching Chavez Jr. against one of their Top Rank fighters unbeaten Vanes Martirosyan, but instead they chose to put him in with Lee. It could be that they didn’t want to see one of their fighters sacrificed in the process of making the fight and wanted to keep both guys winning if possible. That would make a lot of sense because a loss for Martirosyan right now would really hurt his career, because he doesn’t have much of a following in the United States and is still trying to develop a following. It’s been fought because Martirosyan still hasn’t fought anyone.

Lee’s promoter Emanuel Steward realizes how tough it is to beat Chavez Jr due to the big improvements that have made in his game in the last couple of years. Steward said to ESPN “He cuts off the ring very well, and smothers you. He gets inside and works the body…Him and Andy, they’re both big guys for middleweights, they’re both good punchers, both get hit.”

Chavez Jr. seems to get hit a lot more than Lee, and Steward is right about Chavez Jr. liking to smother his opponents with his huge size. However, Lee likely will be resistant to that because he’ll keep moving and won’t let Chavez Jr. mug him against the ropes the way he did against his last opponent Marco Antonio Rubio.