By Jason Kim: Former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO’s) feels frustrated at his inability to get a fight against WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KO’s), who the 37-year-old Martinez feels is being protected by the World Boxing Council and by Chavez Jr’s promoter Bob Arum.

Martinez told ESPN “Maybe when I’m 50-years-old or have to use a cane to walk, they’ll think I’m a good opponent. When I could not throw punches or could not move anymore.”

It’s hard to argue with what Martinez is saying, because Arum doesn’t plan on letting Chavez Jr. fight Martinez in his next fight or the one after that. Arum says he’s waiting until Chavez Jr’s handlers feel that he’s ready to take the fight and it doesn’t look like that’s happening. Martinez didn’t look that great in his last fight against Darren Barker last October, and there are some people who feel that Martinez is starting to show his age. However, a bloated 181 pound Chavez Jr. looked far, far worse in grinding out 12 round decision over Marco Antonio Rubio earlier this month in an unimpressive 12 round decision.

Chavez Jr. weighs as much as a cruisereight after re-hydrating but he punches like a welterweight. He doesn’t have power and he stands there in the pocket in close for some reason and gives away his 6-foot height. Against Martinez, Chavez Jr. would be right there for Martinez’s powerful left hands and right hooks. Without power, Chavez Jr. would get taken apart and would never be able to use his big height and weight advantage to beat Martinez.

Jose Sulaiman, the President for the World Boxing Council, is making noises about Chavez Jr. being required to fight Martinez if he can get by his March 17th opponent Matthew Macklin on March 17th at Madison Square Garden. However, Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum doesn’t seem to be listening to all of that, as he’s looking at putting together Chavez Jr’s next title defense against Martin Murray or Andy Lee. Will the WBC do anything about it if Chavez Jr. faces one of those guys instead of Martinez? I kind of doubt it unfortunately. They’ve stripped other fighters for failing to fight their mandatory challengers, but I think it’s a different situation with Chavez Jr. I don’t see them ever forcing him to fight Martinez. It kind of makes a joke out of the WBC if they fail to do anything about requiring that Chavez Jr. follow the rules, but I still think that Chavez Jr. and Arum will continue to step around Martinez to look for softer opponents until one them eventually beats him. It would be scary to picture Chavez Jr. holding onto his WBC title for many years by being steered around the dangerous opponents and the WBC not forcing Chavez Jr. to fight them once they too become his mandatory challengers.