By Dan Ambrose: WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto could be on the verge of taking on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) next if Chavez Jr. can somehow get past WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik (30-0, 10 KO’s) on Saturday night in the battle of the unbeatens at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Zbik and Chavez Jr. have a lot in common in terms of inflated records and wins over B level opponents.

Both are slow of hand, slow of foot and have most of their careers beating little known B class guys. Zbik appears to have fought the slightly better opposition of the two, but that’s really not saying much because these guys have been handled with care by their management and not been put in risky fights where they would have a good chance of getting knocked out or totally outclassed.

Chavez’s good luck game when former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez was stripped recently of his World Boxing Council title by the WBC. This came just in time for Chavez Jr. because had he been forced to face Martinez rather than Zbik it would be the equivalent of Chavez Jr. heading to a firing squad due to Martinez’s much better speed, power and boxing ability. Zbik is at least someone that Chavez Jr. has a chance of beating.

The fight itself isn’t that big of a deal. It could go either way but it’s not a bout that has interested fans. That will come later if Chavez Jr. can capture Zbik’s paper title and then move on to a possible fight against Cotto. That’s the fight that Chavez Jr’s trainer Freddie Roach wants.

Speaking to ocregister.com, Roach said this about Chavez’s next opponent if he beats Zbik: “Could be Saul Alvarez, could be Tony Margarito. But there’s one fight I think could be really big, and it would be part of that Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry.” Roach, of course, is talking about Cotto. It would be a good fight because there are more than a few boxing fans that want to see Chavez Jr. finally in with a world class opponent to see what would happen. My guess is Chavez would be destroyed but first he’s going to have to get past Zbik.