By Sean McDaniel: If WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) is able to get past Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) this Saturday night in their fight in Las Vegas, it will open up a great fight possibility between Chavez Jr. and WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward if Chavez Jr. was open to fighting Ward at a catchweight or the full weight for the 168 pound division.

Chavez Jr. wouldn’t have to give up his WBC middleweight title in order to fight Ward, so there’s no chance of Chavez Jr. losing his belt. And by fighting Ward at a catchweight of say 164 lbs, it would be to Chavez Jr’s benefit for taking that fight at that weight because Chavez Jr’s is already bigger than Ward in terms of weight and frame. It’s not like Chavez Jr. would be the smaller fighter if he moved up to 164 lbs. Chavez Jr. would still be the bigger fighter when he steps inside the ring with Ward, and he might even end up stronger for taking the weight at a higher weight.

A Chavez Jr-Ward fight would be huge, because Ward is recognized as the best fighter at 168 lbs, and he already badly beat the light heavyweight division’s best fighter in WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson last Saturday night in a fight that took place at 168.

It would be excellent if Ward could get a fight against Chavez Jr. to get the opportunity to beat the best fighter in the middleweight division. Chavez Jr. won’t have a better option than Ward if he gets past Sergio Martinez on Saturday. The best that Chavez Jr. can hope for in his next fight are against the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Geale of Felix Sturm.

It’s probably realistic to hope that Chavez Jr. takes on a guy like Ward because he’s too skilled, too fast and too talented for Chavez Jr. to risk his unbeaten record on.