By Dan Ambrose: If WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) wants to retain his title against Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) on September 15t in their pay-per-view bout, Chavez Jr. is going to have to find some defense for his game so that he doesn’t get blasted out by one of Martinez’s powerful left hand shots.

Thus far, Chavez Jr. has been getting over on being a lot bigger than his opponents and having a great chin. However, that’s not going to be good enough against Martinez because his mobility negates Chavez Jr’s size and actually makes it a negative for the Mexican fighter. Chavez Jr. might as well be a fat person in the ring against Martinez, because that’s pretty much how he’ll end up being in this fight. Chavez Jr. needs to shed a lot of weight for this bout and try and come in at 160 and stay 160, because he’s not going to have a compliant stationary fighter that just stands with his back against the ropes like Chavez Jr’s last dozen opponents.

I give Bob Arum of Top Rank a lot of credit for matching Chavez Jr. against guys with no ability to move, because it’s help keep Chavez Jr. unbeaten. However, Martinez can move, and he’s got outstanding power to go along with it. He’s an exceptional defense fighter compared to Chavez Jr. This means that Chavez Jr. will have to be able to fight Martinez in the center of the ring, and he’ll have to try and put more effort into his nonexistent defense if he wants to win.

That’s going to be impossible for Chavez Jr. to do I’m afraid. You don’t take nine years of bad technique and then all of a sudden improve it over night. That’s not going to happen. Chavez Jr. is going to go out there on September 15th using his head to block Martinez’s tremendous shots, and he’s not going to do well.

Chavez Jr. won’t be able to land his body shots, because Martinez won’t be fighting stupidly like a lot of Chavez Jr’s opponents by just standing there asking to get hit to the body. Martinez will keep on the move, and Chavez Jr’s only hope of landing anything will come from shots while moving. Chavez Jr. can’t move for long without tiring because of all that useless weight that he hauls around for each of his fights.