By Dan Ambrose: Bob Arum wants to match up his fighters WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and WBO junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. I think that’s a really bad idea if you’re a Cotto fan. Whether he defeats Antonio Margarito or loses to him again when they meet up for their rematch on December 3rd, Cotto is going to take a lot of punishment in that fight and there won’t be much left of Cotto for him to turn around and take on a big hulking middleweight like Chavez Jr.

I think Cotto could handle Chavez Jr. if he were fresh and not coming off of a beating like the one he’s going to experience at the hands of Margarito. However, Cotto is going to take a lot of hard shots from Margarito in this fight and the last thing that Cotto needs is to be facing a big 6’0″ middleweight like Chavez Jr. Can you imagine seeing Chavez Jr. rehydrating to 180 lbs and facing a 155-160 pound Cotto. That 20 to 25 pound weight advantage for Chavez Jr. would create a huge mismatch against the aging Cotto and it would be a bad fight for him to be in.

Cotto already looks ring worn but after you put him in with Margarito again, he’s going to be beaten up in that fight and I don’t think there will be enough left for him to turn around and beat Chavez Jr. I wonder if Arum is thinking the same thing. After all, Cotto is nearing the end of his career, while Chavez Jr. is only 25 and has a lot of years ahead of him. What better way for Arum to increase Chavez’s worth than to put him in with a badly depleted Cotto so he can tear up the old toothless lion and add his scalp to his resume. At the same time, Arum would be giving Chavez Jr. a nice little payday because a Chavez-Cotto fight will be a huge money maker