By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is hoping to match two of his fighters Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. World Boxing Association junior middleweight title holder Miguel Cotto on December 4th in a pay per view bout in Las Vegas or Atlantic City, New Jersey. This fight depends on how well the young 24-year-old Chavez Jr. does in his next fight against fringe junior middleweight contender Pawel Wolak on September 11th. Wolak is the planned next fight for Chavez Jr., although it’s doubtful that Arum would want to risk putting Chavez in with a slugger like Wolak.

There would be a very real risk that Wolak would beat Chavez, because Julio looked vulnerable in his last fight against John Duddy in June after getting staggered in the 6th round. Wolak is a step up from Duddy in terms of power, and Chavez isn’t really known for being skilled defensively. My guess is Arum will choose to continue matching Chavez against 2nd tier opposition until the Cotto bout in December.

In an article by Dan Rafael of ESPN, Arum says “If Chavez looks good [against Wolak], then we’re going to do the Cotto fight for Miguel’s title either in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. I think it’s a great fight, a real fun fight.” It’s an interesting fight because Chavez Jr. hasn’t yet fought anyone during his career and many boxing fans will be happy that he’s finally facing a 1st tier fighter after all these years.

Some people had the impression that Chavez wouldn’t fight a true 1st tier fighter until he had already racked up 50 wins against 2nd and 3rd tier fighters. Although I thankful that Arum is finally putting Chavez in with a good fighter in Cotto, I think it’s kind of stupid to go from Duddy or Wolak to a fight against Cotto.

Chavez really needs to be tested a lot more than those two fights before going up against a quality fighter like Cotto. Chavez really no chance at beating Cotto and Arum has to know this. It’s not whether Chavez will lose to Cotto; it’s how badly he’ll lose.

It’s going to be a slaughter, but at least Chavez Jr. will get a good payday out of it. I don’t know that it will be worth watching on pay per view. Those fights should be designed for huge stars or quality fighters. Chavez hasn’t proven yet, at least to me, that he’s a quality fighter.