By Jim Dower: Undefeated middleweight contender and fellow Tank Rank fighter Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) will be traveling to the Philippines to train alongside Manny Pacquiao as Manny prepares for his November 13th fight against two-time welterweight champion Antonio Margarito on November 13th, according to the latest boxing news from Philboxing.com. This is a move done for a couple of reasons, one being that Chavez Jr. has a fighting style that is somewhat like Margarito’s style. It’s thought that Pacquiao could benefit from the sparing with the young Chavez Jr. The other reason is that it will give trainer Freddie Roach more time with Chavez so he can continue to make changes to his style.

Chavez, 24, has a fight coming up with World Boxing Association junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto on December 4th, and Chavez probably needs as much work as he can get to prevent getting beaten by the much more experienced Cotto. On Thursday, it was learned that Chavez Jr. likely wouldn’t be fighting on September 11th against top 15 junior middleweight contender Pawel Wolak due to some issues that Chavez was having with some of his former trainers. It may be for the best that Chavez not take that fight, because Wolak would have been a huge test for Chavez and he may not have been good enough to pass that test.

Few boxing fans give Chavez much of any chance against Cotto, since Chavez really hasn’t fought anyone during his career other than John Duddy, who isn’t seen as a dangerous threat. Going from the likes of Duddy to a fight against Cotto seems like a recipe for defeat, but on the plus side Chavez Jr. will get his biggest payday and will be much better known even if he does get destroyed by Cotto. If Chavez can look halfway decent in losing to Cotto, he may be able to land fights against other Top Rank fighters like Pacquiao, Vanes Martirosyan, Margarito and Yuri Foreman in the future.