By Dan Ambrose: The WBC may be saying that WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will have to defend his title against Sergio Martinez next, but Chavez Jr’s promoter Bob Arum doesn’t appear to be listening to any of that, as he wants Chavez Jr. to be back in the ring on June 2nd at the Staples Center in Los Anges, following by a fight on September 15th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Martinez isn’t in Arum’s plans for Chavez Jr. for either of those fights unfortunately.
Arum told mysanantonio.com “No, not Martinez [for June 2nd or September 15th]. There’s not enough money to do that fight. It’s not a pay-per-view fight yet.”
Martinez turns 37 on February 21st, and you have to wonder when Arum is planning on making the Chavez-Martinez fight because Martinez isn’t getting any younger, and Chavez Jr. doesn’t appear to be gaining new fans with his mediocre performances against listless opposition. Chavez Jr. may lose his WBC title on the scales because he’s been really having to struggle to make the weight.
In his last three fights, Chavez Jr. has come into the fight weighing over 180 or close to 180, which effectively gives him a huge weight advantage against his opponents. If he doesn’t lose his title on the scales, Chavez Jr. could also wind up getting beaten by one of the opponents Arum is matching him again. We then could see another case of Arum messing up a big fight by letting it marinate too long.
Andy Lee and Antonio Margarito are being mentioned for Chavez Jr’s next fight on June 2nd. The WBC has already said no to Margarito, but that still doesn’t mean a whole lot. If Arum wants Margarito, then he’ll likely get him. The WBC should be stripping Chavez Jr. of his title if he fails to fight Martinez next, but it’s highly unlikely that they’ll do that.
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