By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) will be defending his title this Saturday night against 37-year-old Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on HBO. Chavez Jr. seems to be under the impression that Martinez is too old now and is ready to be taken down by him.

Chavez Jr. said to HBO “You should be fighting my dad. You’re old already. You weren’t born for greatness. You’ll see with your own eyes that I’ll beat you. I’m going to beat you.”

If that’s the case then Chavez Jr. is going to need to start working out a lot harder than he showed on the latest episode of Chavez Jr-Martinez 24/7 on HBO, because Chavez Jr. came across as a real slacker in the episode, blowing off practice, working out at home and not focusing on what his father Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was trying to point out to him about Martinez’s weaknesses. Chavez Jr. just looked disengaged mentally at times, and I can’t see him beating Martinez on Saturday with the way he’s going through his training paces.

Chavez Jr’s main asset has been his size in his recent fights since he started ballooning up in weight. However, size isn’t going to beat Martinez, unless Chavez Jr. comes into the fight as a cruiserweight in terms of weight at 190. 180 lbs won’t get the job done against Martinez. It’s going to take a lot heavier fighter than that to beat Martinez on Saturday night, and I think Chavez Jr. won’t come into the fight any heavier than 180lbs.

Saturday’s fight will be decided by who the faster fighter is between them and who moves the best around the ring. Chavez Jr. doesn’t look fast in his training camp, and I doubt he’ll find hand speed or the ability to move around the ring by Saturday.