By Eric Thomas: After eight years as a pro unbeaten middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (42-0-1, 30 Ko’s) is on the verge of winning a title against WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik (30-0, 10 Ko’s) next month on June 4th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. For eight long years, Chavez Jr. has faced little more than B and C level fighters each time out while being rewarded by being pushed up in the middleweight rankings despite a lack of quality opposition.

Chavez, now 25 and the son of famous former boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez, is set to fight Zbik for the title. It couldn’t be any easier for Chavez Jr. if you planned it. Zbik is little more than a paper champion, a fighter who was given his title by the World Boxing Council after the former champion Sergio Martinez opted to fight a better known opponent Sergiy Dzinziruk rather than fight Zbik. Had Zbik actually fought Martinez, Zbik likely would have been crushed within five or six rounds.

The same goes for Chavez Jr. He would have had no chance in a fight with Martinez. However, with Martinez now safely out of the picture, Chavez Jr. faces the much weaker and beatable Zbik for his crown on June 4th in what will likely be a packed Stables Center filled with Chavez Jr. pro fans. This is going to be Chavez Jr.’s big opportunity to capture the WBC title and hold it down for a little while. Obviously, Chavez Jr. won’t keep it for long because unless he’s skillfully matched, he’s going to lose as soon as he’s put in with someone good like Martinez, Gennady Golovkin and many other top fighters in the division.

But against Zbik, Chavez Jr. has a decent chance of winning the title and at least having it for a short period of time. The best possible scenario would be for Chavez Jr. to win the fight and then pay step aside fees to his mandatory challenger for couple of years while Chavez Jr. selects guys from the bottom of the pack to milk the title. Chavez Jr. could in theory hold down the WBC title for years if he were to fight the bottom 15 guys like Sam Soliman and Osumanu Adama each time out.