By Dallan O’ Donnell: In a major statement from legendary boxing trainer Emanuel Steward, the 68 year old has said that his fighter, Andy Lee will not only beat Chavez Jr., but Lee will knock the defending WBC Champion out.

It is a bold statement from Steward, who in boxing terms has been there and done that, and seen almost everything there is to see in the sport, not only as a hall of famer trainer, but also as a WBO commentator and analyst.

Steward thinks very highly of his Irish fighter Lee, and with good reason.

Chavez Jr. is currently ranked the third best in middleweight in the world, while Lee is 6th but personally I would have Lee ahead of Chavez any day, but it is Chavez Jr.’s WBC title that manages to keep him up there.

Lee, from Limerick in Ireland, is ahead of some talented guys already, like former European Champion Darren Barker, who has fought and lost to Sergio Martinez in recent times, Matthew Macklin, who has fought both Felix Sturm, to whom he lost controversially on points, and Sergio Martinez. Lee is also ahead of Martin Murray who also fought Sturm and fought to a draw. Murray was the man who was meant to be fighting Chavez Jr. but couldn’t fight abroad because of visa/work permit issues.

So, in stepped Andy Lee. In fairness to Lee, he has taken the harder route to a title by fighting Chavez, as I feel that Felix Sturm is very beatable. But every fighter has their weakness and you can be sure Lee’s trainer, Steward will have already found many weaknesses in Chavez Jr.

I think that Lee is better than Chavez, I believe he has enough heart to beat Chavez. We will find out a lot about Chavez when he fights Lee. We have never really seen Chavez being taken to the depths of a grueling hard fight, but we know that Lee can slug it out with most fighters.

Chavez Jr. has long avoided Sergio Martinez. Martinez, ranked number one middleweight, has struggled to find fights, because of how dangerous he is, but he finally managed to get Chavez to sign a pre-fight agreement, to fight him after the Lee bout. If he wins, Lee will be looking to tear up the script and take on Martinez himself.

There have been many reports of troubles in the Chavez camp, also on the Pacquiao-Bradley 24/7 airing, trainer Freddie Roach claimed that Chavez had fired strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, which can’t be good preparation for a tough fight.

But down to reality, I pick Lee to beat Chavez and take his WBC belt and become World Champion, not just for himself but for Ireland too.

If he does beat Chavez, then there are so many big domestic fights out there for Lee. I’m sure Macklin, Murray and Barker wouldn’t mind a shot at the title, not to mention a huge bout with Sergio Martinez.

Lee has so much to gain from this bout. And I think he can beat Chavez on the night.

The fight takes place in Texas on the 16th of June. Good luck Andy!

Who do you think will win? Comment below or on Twitter @dallan09