By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) could be fighting World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight interim champion Sebastian Zbik (30-0, 10 KO’s) in early 2011, according to news from examiner.com. Chavez, who only fought once in 2010, is looking for a fight in the early part of 2011. He pulled out of a bout in December against Pawel Wolak complaining of the flu. This wasn’t the first time that Chavez had become ill before a fight.
Currently, Chavez is ranked number #1 by the WBC, but has only fought one fringe contender, John Duddy, during his entire seven year career. Zbik, a good fighter but weak puncher, would be a big step up for Chavez if he were to take this bout. I have my doubts that Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum would let him take this fight because Zbik could end up jabbing Chavez’s head off all night long. That’s what Zbik does very well – jab. He’s got a decent hook and has a way of grinding out his decisions with his technical skills.
The toughest fighter that Zbik has been in with is Domenico Spada, a hard puncher with an aggressive heavy pressure style of fighting. Zbik narrowly defeated Spada in their first fight in July 2009, but looked much better in decisively out-pointing Spada iby a 12 round decision in their rematch in April 2010. Chavez would have problems with Zbik, and I could see him losing to him. It might not be worth the risk if Arum is saving Chavez’s unbeaten record for one big money fight against a bigger star.
Chavez is going to likely get destroyed sooner or later when he’s put in with a good fighter, because his defense is poor and his stamina is questionable. I see him as a top 20 fighter, not a #1 contender like the WBC currently has him ranked. If the idea is to save his ‘0’ for a big cash out fight, then putting him in with Zbik might be a bad idea. There’s not much of an upshot to fighting Zbik, because even if Chavez were to win, Zbik is still only the interim WBC champion and Chavez would still have to fight Martinez to become the champion. I can’t see Chavez ever being able to beat a guy like Martinez, and I doubt Arum will ever put Chavez in with him.
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