Julio Cesar Chavez Jr vs Antonio Margarito: WBC Would Likely Reject Fight

For the time being, the WBC appears to be standing firm on their order that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr must face Sergio Martinez in his next fight or be stripped of their middleweight belt, as Miguel Rivera and Ernesto Castellanos report that a potential fight between Chavez and Antonio Margarito -- which Bob Arum would like to make -- would likely be rejected by the sanctioning body.

The No. 1 reason for rejecting the fight would be that Martinez has been sidelined too many times for the benefit of Chavez, and that eventually, the WBC does have to stick to something to not make it look like Chavez is the green belt body's baby boy. With Martinez set to face Matthew Macklin on March 17, the WBC will be waiting for that result before any official decision. If Sergio loses, then he would lose his mandatory status, and that's how it would work with any organization.

Margarito is another story entirely, and may not be approved as a title challenger even if Martinez were upset by Macklin

Margarito has other hurdles to overcome. The World Boxing Council will order Margarito to undergo a thorough eye examination before three ophthalmologists who are recognized and appointed by the WBC's medical committee.

Margarito (38-8, 27 KO) is 33 years old, has never fought at 160 pounds, and is coming off of two very lopsided losses to Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, in which his eye was first destroyed, and then re-demolished the next time out following surgery and a lot of doubt and skepticism.

Margarito, to put it nicely, has no business fighting for the WBC middleweight title, or any middleweight title, or any title period. It's pretty easy to see he's no middleweight, as size-wise he looks very average at junior middleweight, and his punching power just doesn't appear to be there anymore.

Andy Lee is also being considered for Chavez's next fight, with Top Rank and Arum seemingly giving no thought to the fact that the WBC just might be serious about Chavez needing to fight Martinez next or be stripped. It could be possible that a deal would be worked out between all the parties involving a Lee fight before Martinez, since Lou DiBella promotes both Lee and Martinez. If Lee were to beat Chavez, it's not like he'd have any trouble setting up Martinez vs Lee after that if he wanted to go that way. It's a fight he's considered doing before.