By Dan Ambrose: Having failed badly in in getting a win over Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KO’s) in their fight last month on September 15th, former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) is now promising to KO Martinez in their possible rematch next year if Chavez Jr. isn’t suspended for an entire year for his positive marijuana test.

Chavez Jr. said this as quoted by Infobae.com I’m sure I’ll knock Martinez out in the rematch. I let him go.”

I think a more accurate statement would be that Chavez Jr. wasn’t accurate enough with his punches to finish Martinez off. However, even if Chavez Jr. had landed the remaining shots that he threw in the 12th round, I still think Martinez would have survived the round because he was throwing back well and moving to avoid Chavez Jr’s desperate shots after he got back up and cleared his head. To be sure, Chavez Jr. did land a few nice shots after Martinez got back to his feet, but Chavez Jr. started missing a lot and looked like had punched himself out.

I think this may have been the main reason he didn’t let his hands go in any of the first 11 rounds of the fight. With all that weight that Chavez Jr. took off when dehydrating to make weight for the fight, he probably would have gassed out badly had he gone all out to try and score a knockout against Martinez. It’s one thing for Chavez Jr. to go after Andy Lee with his pencil thin legs and a whole different story to go after Martinez. Chavez Jr. would have been out of breath had he chased Martinez around in the first 11 rounds. That’s why I believe Chavez Jr. waited until the 12th round to go all out, because he knew he wouldn’t have to worry about being exhausted in the next round and potentially get knocked out by the better conditioned Martinez.

The rematch between Martinez and Chavez Jr. will without a doubt take place sometime next year, but we won’t find out precisely when until Chavez Jr. learns about what the length of his suspension will be for his marijuana positive drug test. We’ll also have to wait and see whether Martinez will need surgery on the torn cartilage in his right knee. It’s looking like he may indeed need surgery to repair the problem, and that will probably put Martinez on the shelf for at least five months while he heals, possibly more. It’ll all work out if Chavez Jr. receives a suspension of four to five months.