(Photo: Zanfer Boxing) By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KO’s) is reportedly close to the 160 pound limit for his title defense against #3 WBC Andy Lee (28-1, 20 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas, United States.

According to Dan Rafael, the 26-year-old Chavez Jr. weighed 165lbs on Wednesday night, only five pounds away from his target weight.

However, Chavez Jr. looked badly weight drained already, and after he loses the last five pounds, he’ll look even worse. Chavez Jr. is always in danger of losing his titles on the scale for every fight, because he’s really big for this weight class, and tends to bloat up to 180lbs after he rehydrates after the weigh-in. It’ll likely be the case for Saturday’s fight against Lee.

In the past it didn’t matter that Chavez Jr. was putting on huge amounts of weight after rehydrating, because he’s faced largely mediocre opposition his entire career, including his time as the World Boxing Council title. But on Saturday night, Chavez Jr. will be facing his first quality opponent of his career and we could see his weight issue being a problem for him. Against the likes of Peter Manfredo Jr., Sebastian Zbik and Marco Antonio Rubio, it didn’t matter if Chavez Jr. was weakened from having taken off weight, because these guys weren’t good enough to take advantage.

However, Lee is good enough to capitalize on Chavez Jr. coming in over 180 and being sluggish. We could see Chavez Jr. taking a real pounding in this fight. He’s not going to be able to have his way in close, because that’s not the way that Lee fights. He doesn’t tend to stay on the ropes, and he’s difficult to try and force into that position because of his wicked right hook and straight left hand. He hits too hard and he’s too fast. He’s also not going to be standing in one place like Chavez Jr’s recent stationary opponents. Lee will be constantly moving, landing hard shots and taking advantage of Chavez Jr’s sluggishness and lack of power.