By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KO’s) could be facing 38-year-old Ricardo Mayorga (29-8-1, 23 KO’s) or junior middleweight contender James Kirkland (31-1, 27 KO’s) next on June 16th at the Sun Bowl in El Pason, Texas. Chavez’s trainer Freddie Roach said that those two names were mentioned to him by Chavez Jr’s people for his June fight.

It doesn’t look like Sergio Martinez is in the picture, however.

Roach told RingTV “They asked me the other way about James Kirkland, the kid from Texas who fought the other night…I said ‘Yeah, take it.’… I think that would be an easy fight for us [Chavez Jr.] The guy from Nicaragua [Ricardo Mayorga] was offered.”

As you can see they’re not looking to match Chavez Jr. tough. Both Kirkland and Mayorga are junior middleweights, not middleweights and they’d be a lot smaller than the 6’0″ 180 pound Chavez Jr.

Kirkland looked awful against Molina last Saturday night and was well on his way to losing the fight when Molina was suddenly disqualified after one of his team members mistakenly entered the ring after he had been knocked down in the 10th by Kirkland. Molina might have lost the fight in the next two rounds had it continued, but he may not have. You can’t ignore how poor Kirkland looked in the first nine rounds of the fight. He had no hand speed and looked confused. He would be an easy mark for Chavez Jr., especially if he had to make a quick turn around to get back in the ring on June 16th against the much bigger Chavez Jr.

Mayorga hasn’t fought since last year in March when he was stopped by Miguel Cotto in the 3rd round. With a year having gone by since Mayorga last fought, you can imagine it’s probably not improved his game any. Obviously, Mayorga is a good opponent because he’s no threat to Chavez Jr. due to his age and lack of size. But Mayorga is also a good opponent because he’s good at marketing fights due to his ability to generate excitement. Too bad he’s not able to match that excitement by looking good in the ring, because it would be nice to see Chavez Jr. finally get tested by a good opponent instead of the guys that are being dug up for him to fight.