By William Mackay: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum was busy putting all his ducks in a row after one of his fighters unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) defeated John Duddy (29-2, 18 KO’s) tonight by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas. Arum, not one to wait around before looking for more opportunities for his Top Rank fighters, said that the 24-year-old Chavez Jr. could be moving back down to 154 junior middleweight to challenge WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto for his World Boxing Association title next.

It’s a win-win situation for Arum, because he promotes both Cotto and Chavez Jr. and will be making money either way it comes out. It might not exactly be a fair fight for Chavez, because he’s never fought anyone near as good as Cotto, and probably will be in way over his head in a fight with the tough Puerto Rican.

However, it’s probably better than Chavez get destroyed by a fighter like Cotto for good money than getting destroyed by a less popular fighter for less money. Chavez Jr. was able to get by fringe contender John Duddy tonight, but he may not be able to have the same luck if he challenges WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez or any of the top middleweights or junior middleweights.

Arum has done a great job of protecting Chavez for as long as he’s done, it’s going to be hard for Arum to keep protecting him now that he beat Duddy and is ranked high in the junior middleweight division. It might seem a bit odd if Chavez Jr. was to go from a fight against the top 15 ranked Duddy back to fighting his normal B class opposition that Chavez has been feeding off of for the past seven years.

A fight against Cotto would represent a huge payday for Chavez Jr., and it would be a dream come true. Arum will probably put the fight in a stadium, either in New York or in Texas. It’s a classic Mexico vs. Puerto Rico match-up, and the fight will probably sell well in either Texas or New York.

The only question is whether Chavez’s win tonight against Duddy was enough for fans to get on the bandwagon and start believing he has a chance against a fighter like Cotto. It would be better if they did, but this win might not be enough for Chavez to be considered a legitimate contender.

After all, Duddy is still seen by many fans to be nothing more than a B level fighter, so beating him isn’t nearly as impressive as it would otherwise look if this was a better respected fighter in the middleweight division. Duddy was already beaten last year by Billy Lyell, and he’s not considered to be a great fighter.