By Eric Thomas: According to the latest boxing news rumors, WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) will be facing unbeaten number #1 ranked WBC middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) on December 4th in Las Vegas, Nevada. This, of course, would depend on the young 24-year-old Chavez Jr. getting by his next opponent on September 11th, who is rumored to be Pawel Wolak. Both Chavez Jr. and Cotto fight for Bob Arum of Top Rank, so it would be a fight that fits the usual pattern for some of Arum’s fights he likes to put together. Arum has been grooming Chavez Jr. for ages, matching him up and against 2nd and 3rd tier fighters in building up an impressive looking record but one without any real substance.

Recently, Chavez Jr. finally stepped it up against fringe middleweight contender John Duddy, and was able to beat him by an impressive 12 round unanimous decision on June 26th. It was a good win for Chavez Jr., to be sure, but it wasn’t the kind of win that would give you a strong belief that he could compete with top fighters like Cotto, Kelly Pavlik, Alfredo Angulo and Sergio Martinez. Chavez Jr. was even staggered at one point in the fight by the light-hitting Duddy. That’s not a good sign if you’re thinking of putting Chavez Jr. in with a guy like Cotto. But I can see how this is fight that is ready to be made.

At 24, Chavez Jr. needs to be put in with either a top contender or a title fight. Since he looked very beatable in facing the bottom ranked Duddy, it’s very likely that Chavez Jr. would suffer a defeat if they put him in with a higher ranked contender than Duddy. This is why it might be better off having Chavez Jr. fight Cotto now, and get a good payday out of the fight. Naturally, Chavez Jr. probably has no chance of winning against a quality fighter like Cotto, but it’s better for Chavez to be destroyed by Cotto than, say, some like Gennady Golovkin, Vanes Martirosyan or Angulo.

At least Chavez Jr. will get a good payday out of the Cotto fight, and if he looks good in losing, his stock may still go up. I think Chavez could make it interesting for awhile before Cotto chops him down, but I can’t see this fight going beyond the 6th round. Duddy had Chavez in trouble in the 6th, and had he been a better puncher, he would have likely finished him off in that round. Cotto will be throwing bombs from the 1st round, and with the poor defensive capabilities that Chavez Jr. has, I think he’s going to get badly beaten. Cotto hits hard enough to take Chavez out quick, so that’s a plus. It’s better for Chavez Jr. not to get beaten down quickly rather than pummeled for 12 rounds.