By Dan Ambrose: WBC President Jose Sulaiman says that WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. isn’t the one that doesn’t want the fight against former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. Suliaman says that it’s Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank who doesn’t want that fight, according to The Record.

Sulaiman said to the Record.com.mx“It is not Chavez who does not want the fight, it’s his promoter. They will say that Martinez does not sell, but there is no turning back. A decision has been made by the [49th] convention and should do.”

Sulaiman says that negotiations will start this Monday for a fight between Martinez and Chavez Jr., provided that Martinez wins his next fight coming up on Saturday night against Matthew Macklin. If Martinez and Chavez Jr. can’t come to some kind of agreement within the next 30 days, Sulaiman says there will be a purse bid.

It remains to be seen whether Sulaiman and the World Boxing Council will force Chavez Jr’s hand because it doesn’t appear that Arum has any intention of matching Chavez Jr. against Martinez next. Even if Suliaman forces the issue, there’s a good chance that Chavez Jr. still won’t end up fighting Martinez. Arum can always have Chavez Jr. vacate his WBC title rather than fight Martinez and risk getting knocked out. Chavez Jr’s fights are shown on HBO, and he’s very popular both in the United States and in Mexico. He’ll still be popular even without the WBC title and HBO will likely continue showing Chavez Jr’s fights just as before. With as many titles there are available among the four sanctioning bodies, Chavez Jr. can pick up an interim strap or one of the regular titles after one of the sanctioning bodies elevates a champion to a Super World champ to make room for the popular Chavez Jr.