By Allen Fox: Sergio Martinez shot down rumors of him fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. recently, saying that it was nothing but a rumor about that fight being made. Instead, Martinez is waiting to fight the winner of the November 19th fight between WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and challenger Peter Manfredo Jr.

Martinez, 36, has been promised by the World Boxing Council that he gets to face the winner the winner of the Chavez Jr. vs. Manfredo Jr. fight, as Martinez is the WBC Emeritus champion and is guaranteed a shot at the winner. Martinez expects Chavez Jr. to be stripped of his title in 2012 by the WBC if Chavez Jr. fails to fight Martinez.

It’s very likely that Chavez Jr. will opt to vacate the WBC belt rather than fight Martinez, because Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum hasn’t seemed eager lately to match Chavez with the hard hitting Martinez. Arum is still hoping to put Chavez Jr. in with Saul Alvarez in 2012 rather than putting Chavez in with a fighter like Martinez who will very likely knock Chavez Jr. out and take away his unbeaten record.

It would be disappointing if Chavez Jr. does decide to side step Martinez but really not surprising. Chavez Jr. still hasn’t faced a dangerous opponent yet despite fighting for eight years as a pro. He defeated the previous champion Sebastian Zbik by a 12 round decision last June in a very close fight. Zbik was the fighter that the WBC installed as the champion after Martinez was stripped of his WBC title by the World Boxing Council because Martinez opted to fight Sergiy Dzinziruk rather than Zbik.