By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) has taken the slow approach to his pro career, fighting mostly fluff 2nd tier opponents again and again while being rewarded with excellent rankings by the sanctioning bodies. As of now, the 24-year-old Chavez Jr is ranked #1 by the World Boxing Council and #4 by the WBO despite having beaten only one fringe contender John Duddy during his seven year pro career.

In 2010, Chavez Jr only fought once, beating Duddy, and that was it for the entire year. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s insane for someone as young as Chavez to be fighting only once per year. The guy needs to put his career overdrive and start fighting some people and fast.

These are the opponents I’d like to see for Chavez Jr. in 2011:

David Lemieux
Sergio Martinez
Dmitriy Pirog
Daniel Jacobs
Kelly Pavlik
Miguel Cotto
Antonio Margarito
Gennady Golovkin
Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam
Matthew Macklin
Fernando Guerrero
Sebastian Sylvester
Felix Sturm

I’d be more than happy if Chavez Jr. would fight at least two or three of those guys before 2011 ends. Do I see that happening? Nope. I see Chavez Jr continuing to dine exclusively on 2nd tier in pay-per-view bouts, even though Chavez isn’t a champion. That’s the weird part. How can you justify asking people to see Chavez fight when he isn’t even a belt holder? If he were to beat one or two of those guys on my list, then I could sort of understand asking fans to pay to see Chavez fight but not fight now.