By Matt Stein: Unbeaten #1 WBC ranked middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) is on the cusp of big things as he goes into Saturday’s tune-up fight against Billy Lyell (22-8, 4 KO’s) in a 12 round bout at the Estadio Banorte, in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. Chavez Jr., the son of former boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez, will be defending his WBC Silver middleweight title and most of all, hoping to win and look good so that he can gain attention when he challenges WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik in May.

Chavez Jr. has been carefully matched by promoter Bob Arum, put in with a seemingly unending series of B level fighters for the past years in hopes of hitting pay dirt with a title that Chavez Jr. will be able to leverage as proof that he’s got great skills like his famous father. A world title is perhaps the only thing that Chavez Jr. is missing in order to show his fans in Mexico that he has talent like his dad.

The WBC belt, even if he’s not considered to be the best fighter in the division if he captures it, will make Chavez Jr. a huge star in Mexico and will in turn bring him huge riches. The trick is for Arum to carefully guide Chavez Jr. once he gets a hold of the title to keep him away from dangerous fighters that might beat him and ruin his time on top. Arum could turn Chavez Jr. into a mini cash cow along the lines of a Miguel Cotto if he can avoid Chavez Jr. getting beaten by someone before that happens.

In an article by Dan Rafael at ESPN, Chavez Jr. said “I want to show everyone that I am ready to fight for a world championship and to dot hat, I need to look great against Billy Lyell, a tough guy who has fought for a world title and was the first man to defeat John Duddy.”