Arum Says No Miguel Cotto vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in 2011

Despite the talks coming from him in the first place, promoter Bob Arum has decided that 2011 is too early for a fight between Miguel Cotto and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, as Chavez needs "more developmental time" before facing "someone like Cotto."

What I wonder is, at what point are we out of "developmental time" for Chavez where he might be ready to face "someone like" a good fighter? He's 25 years old, has 45 professional fights, 216 professional rounds, and thanks to the win over Sebastian Zbik that was straight out of carny operator boxing hell, he gets to call himself "middleweight champion of the world."

How many more easy touches does the kid need before they're going to take a risk?

I know my tone seems off compared to my other recent Chavez thoughts, but seriously, "developmental time" got me. You had him fight for a major title, he won it. At what point do you start treating him like a champion and a legitimate commodity instead of this baby gloves stuff? And again, this isn't about the fighter. This is about the checkers game being played with his career.

OK, deep breath -- hopefully in 2012 he starts taking the tough fights. Expect a victory lap title defense next. There are a couple of fairly soft touches in the WBC top 15 right now, but I'll add this as an asterisk to all my ranting and raving: If they match him next with Marco Antonio Rubio (current No. 1 contender by WBC rankings), that is good enough for me and all my criticism.

Also, who the hell is Miguel Cotto going to fight now? Are they simply hoping Margarito's eye will heal enough to make that fight possible in October?