By Dan Ambrose: Ranked #1 by WBC in the middleweight division, unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) will be facing light hitting junior middleweight Billy Lyell (22-0, 8 KO’s) on January 29th at the Estadio Banorte, in Culiacan, Sinloa, Mexico. If the 24-year-old Chavez Jr. beats Lyell, which is pretty likely given that Lyell is much smaller than Chavez because he fights at junior middleweight and has no power, Chavez will then be fighting interim World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik on March 26th.

This is what you call the easy way to a title, because Chavez has faced only one fringe top contender during his entire eight-year pro career and that’s pretty remarkable given all the fights that Chavez Jr. has had. He fought only once in 2010, beating fellow Top Rank stable fighter John Duddy by a 12 round decision. It was a good performance from Chavez, except for the fact that he was staggered by the light hitting Duddy in the 6th round and took flush shots all night long by the slow-handed Duddy.

Chavez showed no head movement but good hand speed. His defense looked horrible, and I saw nothing of that fight that suggested that Chavez Jr. belongs in the ring with any of the current middleweight champions, even a weak paper interim champion like Zbik. Chavez looks fatally flawed in too many areas. Although he’s now being trained by Freddie Roach and is being assisted by strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, Chavez Jr. has numerous holes in his game at this point. It’s sad that he’s going to be fighting a guy like Lyell, who’s not ranked in the junior middleweight division in the top 15, and who fights at a division below Chavez.

You would like to see Chavez at least fighting guys from his own division to get him ready for the hell that awaits him if he ever gets in the ring with WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. I have a feeling that Bob Arum won’t let that happen and will string it out as long as possible until Martinez retires. Martinez won’t be fighting much longer and is looking for big fights only. Chavez Jr. would then, if he’s able to beat Zbik, who’s not a big puncher, be able to move in and fight for the vacant WBC title in a year or two against someone like David Lemieux. I would favor Lemieux in that fight.

I don’t like the Chavez-Lyell fight and see it as more of the same from Chavez. He’s spent the majority of his career facing B level fighters, and Lyell is pretty much a continuation of that trend for Chavez. Although Lyell did beat Duddy two years ago in 2009 by a narrow 10 round decision, it was hardly a one-sided win for Lyell, and he was recently totally dominated by IBF middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester in a 10th round TKO loss last year in January.