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If you were worried that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was content to ride through a career in boxing on his father's name, fighting mediocre opposition on $40 pay-per-views, you might be seeing the end of those days. Well, the mediocre opposition at least.
Chavez told The Record (link via BoxingScene.com) that the WBC has informed him that he will be named the mandatory challenger to 154-pound titlist Sergio Martinez, and that the WBC will order the fight. He has a fight against an opponent to be named on December 19 (another "Latin Fury" PPV) in Cancun, and then Top Rank will try to line up what could be a hell of a good fight between Chavez and John Duddy for the first quarter of 2010. At the earliest, he might be able to fight Martinez in the summer of 2010.
As for Martinez, he's looking to fight Joshua Clottey on December 5 on HBO for the time being, and I'm sure if he holds on to his title between now and then, he'd be happy to fight Chavez. For one thing, it'd be a solid payday, whether he had to do it on another PPV or if this would finally be a Chavez fight that HBO would pick up. Also, Martinez is about three classes above the guys Chavez has been beating and sometimes struggling with. The likes of Jason LeHoullier, Matt Vanda, Luciano Cuello, etc., just do not match up with Martinez, who is arguably the best 154-pounder in the world if you don't count Paul Williams right now.
Considering it would come first, though, how about that Chavez-Duddy idea? It's been discussed before, but for as second-tier as both guys are considered, we also both know that Duddy is always ready to throw down, and we've seen Chavez in some damn good fights when he's pressed. Chavez may not have his father's skill, but when someone shows up with a pulse against him, he isn't afraid to bang. Chavez-Duddy could be a bloody mess and a lot of fun.