By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) feels that a win over Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) will give him the respect and the recognition from boxing fans to see him as one of the top guys at 160 lbs in the world.

Chavez Jr. said “I’ve been waiting for this fight [Sergio Martinez] my whole life. This is the fight that will catapult me to being one of the best middleweight fighters in the world. This is the fight that I want, that I’ve been waiting for. I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to win.”

Let’s hope for Chavez Jr’s sake that he can accomplish his dreams because if he gets gets toppled over in defeat, it could be a huge blow to his career. As it is, Chavez Jr. may not have much more left at 160 lbs before he can no longer make weight. In looking at how heavy he’s getting in between fights, Chavez Jr. looks to be heading towards the same territory as former WBA World lightweight champion Brandon Rios in not being able to make weight.

Rios, 26, was a lot like Chavez Jr. in the way he would have to struggle to make weight for his weight class, and then how he’d balloon up in weight after he rehydrated. Everything was working out fine for him until he could longer make the weight for lightweight. He’s now moving up to light welterweight and there are big questions whether his career will ever be the same. One of Chavez Jr’s main advantages by fighting at middleweight is his ability to rehydrate up so high to a cruiserweight level fighter in weight after he makes weight.

This gives him a big weight advantage against normal middleweights. Chavez Jr. is basically a super middleweight that’s boiling down to 160 lbs to gain advantage over the fighters at that weigh rather than facing guys his own size at 168. If Chavez Jr. moves up in weight, he’ll be fighting people like Carl Froch, Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler, who are all around 180 like him when they enter the ring. There will no advantage for Chavez Jr, when that time comes.

Even if Chavez Jr beats Martinez, I don’t think Chavez Jr. will get full credit if he ends out-weighing him by 15 pounds and comes into the fight weighing 180 plus, He’s winning on size now more than just talent, and it’s hard to imagine Chavez Jr. finding the same success if he’s forced to fight guys his weight weight at super middleweight or light heavyweight.