By Dan Ambrose: It looks like last Saturday’s fight between former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Sergio Martinez has done better than what a lot of people thought it would do in terms of pay per view buys on HBO. The fight was only expected to draw 250,000 PPV buys, which would put it well below the usual 1 million buys that mega stars Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao regularly get for their fights on pay per view.

Bob Arum, the promoter for Chavez Jr, is reporting that his fight with Martinez last Saturday night hauled in between 500,000 to 600,000 buys, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. That’s a lot of money for a couple of guys who have yet to establish themselves as PPV fighters. Martinez isn’t hugely popular, and Chavez Jr. is mainly popular in the Hispanic community.

For a fight between Chavez Jr and Martinez to get those kinds of numbers seems to suggest that Chavez Jr. is a force to be reckoned with in the future in terms of star appeal. It’s just too bad that Chavez Jr. had to go and blow it all by testing positive for Marijuana, because he could lose his entire $3 million purse for the Martinez fight, and also receive a suspension of up to a year.

Believe me, if Chavez Jr. receives a year-long suspension, he’ll miss out on a lot of PPV fights during that time. Chavez Jr. could potentially lose millions of dollars if he receives a long suspion, and that would really hurt his career in a big way. To be sure, Chavez Jr. will still be young at 27 if he receives a year suspension, but it won’t be good for his progress as a fighter. Also, if Chavez Jr. sits around for an entire year doing nothing he’ll likely pack on a lot of pounds during that time, making it near impossible for him to fight at 160 when he does eventually fight again next year following the probable suspension that follows.