By Jim Dower: Once beaten John Duddy (29-1, 18 KO’s) has a fighter ripe for the picking in unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s), who Duddy will be fighting on June 26th at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas. Duddy, 30, does really well against slow plodders like Chavez Jr. that like to slug and are there to be hit all night long. Chavez has gone to the trouble to sign on with trainer Freddie Roach in hopes of becoming a better fighter or least good enough to beat the likes of Duddy.

This fight should be a tossup because both of them are fatally flawed in countless areas. Chavez Jr. can punch a little if you stand in front of him with your guard down all night long, but he’s god awful slow and very deliberate with his shots. When Chavez is getting ready to punch, he telegraphs exactly what he’s planning on doing by dipping to throw hooks or rearing back to throw straight right hands. He gives himself away ever time and is so easy to read in the ring it’s not even funny.

Chavez’s record is entirely inflated, which is pretty much the case for Duddy as well. However, Duddy has fought at least a couple fairly decent fighters during his career, whereas Chavez still hasn’t fought anyone at all until now. This is an important fight for Roach, because his fighters rarely lose nowadays because he’s got so many high quality fighters seeking him out.

Roach picks and chooses which fighters to accept or deny and he seems to be accepting mostly highly talented guys that have a good chance of being a champion someday. But it’s unclear if Chavez Jr. is that type of fighter. He’s sort of good in a number of areas, but probably not good enough in any to get him to the next level to the point where Chavez Jr. can beat guys like Sergio Martinez, Alfredo Angulo, Miguel Cotto or James Kirkland.

Roach has likely picked apart Duddy’s weaknesses and drilled Chavez Jr. in how to beat him. Roach wants Chavez not to slug as much and to pick his spots when attacking. Chavez usually tries to beat his opponents in the trenches by out-punching them. Most of the time, Chavez has more than enough to beat up his opposition.

It’s not hard to do because these are B level fighters that Chavez is being matched against and not top level fighters. But against Duddy, Chavez is fighting a better fighter and one with the superior skills. Duddy is better than Chavez in almost every department except for power. Chavez has a slight advantage in that area but not so much that it makes a lot of difference.

Chavez could find himself in trouble if he loses his head and tries to beat Duddy by slugging with him. This is probably the worst thing that Chavez can do, because Duddy is good at slugging and more than a handful in close. Duddy also is the better fighter on the outside due to his excellent jab. When he’s throwing his jab a lot, he can dominate his opponents. You can expect that Duddy will be constantly shooting jabs in Chavez’s fast, trying to keep him from crowding.