By William Mackay: Incredibly, number #1 ranked WBC junior middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. could find himself fighting Miguel Cotto if Julio can beat John Duddy on June 26th in their fight at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has a number of fight scenarios for Cotto for his next fight and one of them is to take on Chavez Jr. if he can get by Duddy on the 26th.

I’m sure Cotto would much prefer to fight a rematch against Manny Pacquiao than to fight the young, 24-year-old Chavez Jr. next. But what seems strange is that Arum would think that a win over fringe contender Duddy would be enough to put Chavez Jr. in with a quality fighter like Cotto. That seems almost insane.

There is no way that Chavez would be ready to fight a guy like Cotto, even if Chavez is able to get by Duddy. Neither of these fighters is ready to take on a fighter like Cotto, in my view and to put Chavez in with Cotto off of a win over Duddy would be like marching him to an execution. I really don’t care how good of a trainer Freddie Roach is, he won’t be able to teach Chavez Jr. enough things for him to be competitive against Cotto.

I think that would be a hopeless slaughter and I bet it would wind up on pay per view. I could really see that happening and it would be almost sickening, having to pay to watch a mismatch like Chavez-Cotto. I think Chavez is a good decent fighter but I don’t think he belongs ranked at number #1 in the light middleweight division. I think Chavez would better off ranked in the top 30 or possibly the top 40.

I fully expect Chavez to lose to Duddy, but if by chance he beats him, I still think it would be a terrible thing to put Chavez in with a pro like Cotto. It might be okay if Cotto takes it easy on Chavez and carries him for 12 rounds, not hitting him too hard and just letting him hang around to give the impression that it’s a competitive fight.

But if Cotto goes out head hunting early and looking to throw big shots to the body, I can see this fight ending in the 1st or 2nd round. Chavez has a big head and it’s a big target for shots. And he’s been getting hit much too cleanly in his fights against B level opposition in the past couple of years. Chavez has been struggling against fighters that Cotto would eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

What good would it do Chavez for him to go out and get thrashed by Cotto? I don’t think it would be a good fight for Chavez, and I don’t think it would be good for the fans that would have to sit through a massacre like that. Sure, it would be an excellent way to cash out on an investment but I think if Arum wanted to do that, he could do it a lot better by simply throwing Chavez in the ring with Pacquiao. That would be like throwing a goldfish to a shark. But Chavez would get a huge payday, but fans would be irate before, during and after the bout for the fight even being put on in the first place. This is what I feel about the Cotto vs. Chavez potential fight. It’s a slaughter anyway you want to look at it.