By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (43-0-1, 30 KO’s) is only going to have the benefit of working with his famous trainer Freddie Roach for the last week of his training camp for his September 17th fight against 32-year-old Ronald Hearns (26-2, 20 KO’s) at the Palenque, Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Roach will be busy with his #1 fighter World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao training and touring with him for his bout against Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12th. This will leave Roach with very little time to work with Chavez Jr for the Hearns fight.

Roach and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum tried to persuade Chavez Jr not to take this fight, as they wanted him to wait until Roach has time to train him for a November 19th fight against Peter Manfredo Jr (37-6, 20 KO’s). However, Chavez Jr wanted the Hearns fight anyway, and now will be without the services of Roach for most of the training camp.

Chavez Jr. likely has enough talent to beat Hearns, who hasn’t done much during his seven year pro career other than beat mostly lower level opposition. He was hand-picked by World Boxing Association Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm for a title shot in his last fight and was taken out in the 7th round last February.

Hearns gave Sturm some problems in the fight with his hard right hands. However, in the end Sturm put Hearns away with a flurry of shots in the 7th that left Hearns unable to defend himself on the ropes. Although Hearns hasn’t done anything to deserve a title shot against Chavez Jr, he’s still a fighter that you can’t count out because he can punch hard with straight right hands, and Chavez Jr. is a very average champion. If Hearns can come out fast and make a war of it with power shots, he’s got a chance to win.

Chavez Jr has no defense whatsoever and he’s going to get hit a lot in this fight. With all the punishment that he absorbed in his last fight against Sebastian Zbik, Chavez Jr could be vulnerable for an upset. Chavez Jr. won’t last long if he doesn’t learn how to defend himself from incoming shots, because he’s been taking a lot of nasty head shots during his eight year pro career and it’s getting worse for him now that he’s finally stepping it up against the better B level fighters at this juncture.