By Jim Dower: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is setting up the seating for 20,0000 fans at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas, for the June 26th bout between John Duddy and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s). Incredibly, the Chavez Jr. vs. Duddy bout will be the main even in the Pay-per-View Latin Fury 16 card. It’s hard to imagine this fight as being a main event, and even harder to imagine having to pay to see it. To be sure, Duddy and Chavez Jr. are both entertaining fighters in their own way, showing some decent skills.

However, neither fighter is a champion and likely not going to be a champion any time soon. It’s a fight that seems a perfect match-up for the both of them, because each of them is hyped fighters who have never proven that they truly belong in the top 10. Duddy, 30, has been looking to get a title shot against WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik since 2008, has fought B level fighters during his career, beaten guys like Yory Boy Campas, Anthony Bonsante, Howard Eastman and Walid Smichet.

Duddy stepped up the level of his opposition a year ago against Billy Lyell and ended up losing a 10 round split decision. The one judge that scored the fight for Duddy was being incredibly generous to him, because I saw Duddy losing every round of the fight easily. Duddy and Chavez haven’t shown the kind of skills that would leave you to believe that they belong on the top of a PPV card.

However, if boxing fans are willing to come see the fight take place at the Alamodome and pay for it on PPV, you can’t blame Arum for putting it on PPV for those boxing fans that are willing to watch it. Arum has reportedly wanted to put this fight together for a year now, Rafael says, and just now has finally out the thing together.

It’s good in that one of these two fighters, both with highly inflated records, will be finally tested and beaten. In the case of Duddy, he’s already been beaten as I’ve pointed out and perhaps should have been beaten another time in his fight against Walid Smichet in February 2008. The loser of the Chavez-Duddy fight may find himself dropped in the rankings, though I still imagine that both of them will still be ranked in the top 15 should they lose.

A loss for Chavez will be a huge blow to his career, because part of the interest that surrounds Chavez, besides being the son of the great Julio Cesar Chavez, is that he’s still unbeaten. If Duddy can take away Chavez’s perfect record, it could have an effect on his marketability. On the other hand, I can still see Chavez Jr. being trotted out by Arum on future Latin Fury cards because of Chavez’s name, but I think he’ll be seen differently if he gets beaten decisively by Duddy.