By Matt Stein: In looking at any one thread on boxing forums related to unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., you’ll often see quite a surge of negative comments about his boxing career and abilities. This is kind of the opposite of what his father Julio Cesar Chavez used to receive while in the prime of his career. But with his son Chavez Jr, he receives a lot of negative responses from fans. All I can think of is that he’s disliked because he still hasn’t faced a truly talented fighter after being carefully brought along in his career against fighters that he can beat. That’s not his fault.

Chavez Jr. is being promoted by Top Rank, and they’re not in the habit of matching their fighters tough in the early parts of their careers. They take their time to make a name of the fighter. In the case of Chavez, it’s a lot easier because he already has a large Mexican fan base in the United States and Mexico largely because of his famous father. As such, Chavez jr’s fights have been pay per view bouts recently despite that face that he’s not a champion.

Chavez now has the little known WBC middleweight Silver title in his possession, but that’s like trinket that few people recognize or respect. But having his fights on PPV without having really established himself as credible fighter, does seem a little off putting. When you have fighters in the middleweight division that are perceived to be better than Chavez Jr., and perhaps a lot better, and they’re fighting on regular cable and not PPV, it can make people wonder why Chavez Jr. is getting the red carpet treatment.

In this economy where people are having problems staying employed, it’s kind of unsettling for some to have to pay $40 to see a card with Chavez Jr. in the main event without a major title on the line facing a 2nd tier fighter. That I think can be troubling for boxing fans, because some of them might wonder why they have to pay that kind of money to see a non-champion and a fighter that really is unproven against top tier opposition. I’m sure this will all go away once Chavez Jr. beats a credible fighter like Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito or someone of that caliber.

However, Chavez Jr. needs to do this soon, because fighting smaller guys like Alfonso Gomez, a welterweight, and fringe contenders like John Duddy only further the beliefs in the minds of some boxing fans that Chavez Jr. is just a media creation without much talent or boxing ability.