By Dan Ambrose: Middleweight contender Andy Lee (28-1, 20 KO’s) doesn’t think that the management for WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KO’s) wanted him to fight the 27-year-old Lee for his next fight on June 16th at the Sun Bowl, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. Lee thinks they only picked him because Chavez Jr. insisted on taking the fight out of pride.

Lee said this as quoted by Irish-boxing.com in an interview at the Mail Box “What I heard is that Chavez’s family and his advisers didn’t want to fight me, but he himself wanted to fight me because his pride has been hurt due to all this speculation saying that he’s afraid of this and that and didn’t want to fight.”

This really wouldn’t be surprising if it’s true, because Lee is a huge jump up for Chavez Jr. from the guys he’s been fighting all this time. There really isn’t anyone even close to being on the level of Lee. And what makes Lee even tougher for Chavez Jr. is that he’s a tall southpaw with good hand speed and an ability to move around the ring. Chavez Jr. hasn’t fought anyone with good hand speed or power. And he’s especially fought anyone that can move in any real way.

Chavez Jr’s management has been careful to put him in with guys that stand in one place and/or come straight at him. They’ve picked wisely, because Chavez Jr’s record is unblemished, although he does have a questionable win over Matt Vanda from July 2008 in a fight that Chavez Jr. appeared to lose. Chavez Jr. also has a draw against Carlos Molina in December 2005, in a fight that Chavez Jr. also appeared to lose. As you can see, beating the son of a legend is very tough when it comes to beating him by a decision. It takes a lot to beat that way. Lee isn’t worried about that, and feels he has a good chance of defeating him in that manner.