Julio Cesar Chavez Jr's Next Fight: Martin Murray Enters the Picture, Andy Lee Disappears?

WBC middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr discussed his upcoming June 2 fight in Los Angeles with reporter Sal Rodriguez, and it appears as thought Andy Lee may have up and vanished like a fart in the wind from the discussions, with Martin Murray replacing him. Lee was thought to be all but signed, sealed, and delivered for the June 2 date, but there's no mention of him now.

Murray, an unbeaten British fighter coming off of a disputed draw in December with Felix Sturm, would still be a good opponent. This isn't a bashing of Murray as a possible opponent at all, but it's odd that Lee (a DiBella fighter) is seemingly being pushed out of the talks, as Sergio Martinez (another DiBella fighter) remains the topic of real question for Chavez.

"I want to make an optional defense in June. My opponent could be English boxer Martin Murray in Los Angeles, but after that - and if Martinez wins his fight - then I'll fight him," Chavez said.

"I assure you that I will fight Martinez. I just hope that as a champion, they [the WBC] will allow me to take some voluntaries, which they allow all of their champions to do, even more so with Canelo, who never made a mandatory defense since he won the title."

Chavez (44-0-1, 31 KO) is now resorting to going "But Canelo gets to do it!" in order to defend his position, which is that he's ducked a fight Martinez for a while now. I've been hesitant to call it a duck in the past, since I don't feel a burning desire to see the No. 1 middleweight (Martinez) thrash the No. 13 or whatever middleweight (Chavez) just because one of them holds a trinket and people think he sucks.

I've got a far greater desire to see a lot of potential Martinez fights, but Martinez wants Chavez because there's money in it, and Top Rank does not want Martinez vs Chavez because there's too much money in Chavez to go sacrificing it to a non-house fighter in a bout that Chavez, frankly, almost certainly cannot win because as much as he's improved, he's simply not good enough.

Anyway, Murray (23-0-1, 10 KO) would be an OK opponent, but sort of half-step up from recent opponent Marco Antonio Rubio, who was a half-step up from the likes of Sebastian Zbik and Peter Manfredo. It's a slow process with Chavez.

But I still think the whining at the end says quite a lot about Chavez's overall personality as a fighter. He is apparently of the opinion that the WBC hasn't been kind enough to him in his career. Go figure.