Julio Cesar Chavez Jr appears likely to fight on September 24 in Mexico, probably in something of a "victory lap" title defense against a fairly easy opponent, before his scheduled November 19 return to HBO.

Chavez (43-0-1, 30 KO) lifted the extra bogus WBC middleweight title from Sebastian Zbik on June 4 in his HBO debut. The best two things you can say about the fight are it was watchable and it drew ratings, which means that Chavez will be given a bit of an easy road to continue on as an HBO main eventer, in all likelihood, even though the WBC has promised that Sergio Martinez will receive his shot at Chavez early next year. Martinez fights Darren Barker on October 1 on HBO, where he's favored in a big way, but many still don't think that he'll ever get a shot at the vulnerable Chavez, who is a cash cow for Top Rank and the WBC, and now a ratings draw for HBO, too. The three already basically colluded to give Chavez a major title on a silver platter with his choice of side dish, so what do you expect?

Anyway, Chavez was slated to return on September 24 on HBO, but had that pushed back until November 19. In both cases, he would have been the live boxing main event draw to go alongside a major PPV replay. On September 24, he would have been paired with a replay of Mayweather vs Ortiz, but now Top Rank is looking to get all their ducks in a row as Chavez would pair with the Pacquiao vs Marquez III replay on November 19, should HBO land that fight, as it appears they will.

The 9/24 fight could be televised on FSN's Top Rank Live. No opponent has been named for either fight, but Peter Manfredo Jr and Bryan Vera have both been discussed for November 19.