By Allen Fox: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (44-0-1, 31 KO’s) was facing a critical dilemma recently that you characterize as Chavez Jr. being caught between a rock and a hard place after he’d used up his voluntary defense of his WBC title by taking a soft fight against Peter Manfredo Jr.

Following that fight, the WBC ordered Chavez Jr. to defend his title against former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO’s), which is something that Chavez Jr. clearly wasn’t eager to do.

And the other option was also was a rough one in Chavez Jr. having to defend his title against number 1 ranked contender Marco Antonio Rubio, a fighter with excellent power and skills.

Like Martinez, Rubio has also been trying to get a fight against Chavez Jr. for ages but with no luck. But all of a sudden, Rubio found himself approached by Chavez’s people for a fight after Chavez Jr. asked the World Boxing Council for permission to bypass his ordered fight against Martinez.

Rubio is now overjoyed with finally getting a fight against Chavez Jr. but it’s obviously not a fight that Chavez Jr. likely would have taken had Martinez not been the even worse option for him standing and waiting.

Now Chavez Jr. has hard fight in front of him with Rubio on February 4th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, and if Chavez Jr. wins that fight, he’s still Martinez that he has to fight.

There’s no way that Chavez Jr. can get out of that fight short of vacating the title. The WBC won’t give Chavez Jr. yet another opportunity to slip through the fingers of Martinez to escape this fight.

If Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum wants to cash him out against Miguel Cotto, then the belt will likely be stripped from Chavez Jr. and handed back to Martinez. He obviously would prefer to get it in the ring by beating Chavez Jr. but if this is the best he can hope for, then Martinez will certainly take it.