By Matt Stein: Bob Arum said after Saturday’s fight between Julio Cesar Chavez (41-0-1, 30 Kos) and John Duddy (29-2, 18 KO’s) that there’s a chance that Chavez could move back down in weight to 154 for a bout against WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. The fight, if it does take place, will probably happen at a stadium in either New York or Texas.

Before Saturdays’ 12 round unanimous decision by Chavez over Duddy, few boxing fans would even consider picking Chavez over a top talent like Cotto. I’m sure most fans think Cotto should win this fight without too many problems.

However, there are now a number of fans that are giving Chavez a real chance to beat Cotto and take away his WBA title. Chavez, 24, showed excellent hand speed and power in his win over Duddy on Saturday. Chavez fought like a veteran fighter, staying composed the whole time not getting tight by pressing too much.

For perhaps the first time in his seven year pro career, Chavez looked like a seasoned pro. He showed excellent poise, power and hand speed in taking charge of a close fight at the midpoint of the bout and dominating the 2nd half of the fight, hurting the usually strong chinned Duddy on at least three separate occasions during this time.

The win opens up a lot of opportunities for Chavez, because he can pick or choose whether to fight WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez or Cotto. Either fight is a win-win situation for Chavez. At 24, he has nothing to lose even if he does get beat, because unlike other fighters, Chavez didn’t have an amateur career.

He’s learning on the job right now and figuring things out as he goes. Since he started training with Freddie Roach four weeks ago, Chavez Jr. has learned a great deal and looks nothing like his former self before he started training with him.

Although Roach would like to get Chavez one more fight before facing Cotto or Martinez, there’s a good chance that Chavez cold get put in with Cotto anyway. Chavez is just going to have to learn as much as he can before facing Cotto and trust in the advice from Roach.

I think Chavez has a real chance of beating Cotto and pulling off an upset. Chavez has the size at 6’0” and he definitely has the power. The only thing that Chavez needs to beat Cotto is more pressure and aggressiveness.

Cotto doesn’t react well at all to heavy pressure, so if Chavez can stay on top of Cotto and not give him s rest break form his bombs, I can see Chavez busting up and getting hurt. It doesn’t matter than Chavez’s defense still looks very suspect, because his offense will be his defense against Cotto.

I actually it’s a good thing that Chavez fight Cotto now instead of waiting. He’s already been waiting too long as it is, and I think there’s too much of a chance that Chavez’s handlers could get stuck in spoon feeding him even more than he already has been and end stunting his career.