Newly crowned WBC Middleweight title holder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is on the lookout for a new opponent for his first title defense on September 24th.
Sergio Martinez has already been thrown out as a possible opponent. According to Bob Arum, Martinez wouldn’t be a good Pay Per View draw, as well as the fact that he could and would totally outclass Chavez Jr.
In house fighter Miguel Cotto was also thrown out as an opponent for September 24th, but not as a possible future opponent. Arum claims that Chavez Jr. isn't ready yet for a fighter of Cotto’s caliber and needs more developmental fights.
Arum recently announced three names as possible opponents to fight for Chavez Jr’s. belt: unbeaten European champion Darren Barker (23-0 14 KO), Mexican journeyman Marco Antonio Rubio (51-5-1 44 KO), and former season one contender runner up Peter “Pride of Providence" Manfredo Jr. (37-6 20 KO).
Manfredo Jr. is the most likely candidate for Chavez Jr’s. fight for multiple reasons.
Barker is already out as a possibility, due to him already fighting Sergio Martinez on Oct.1. Manfredo Jr. also has the name recognition and the ability to draw a crowd. In New England, the Pride of Providence is a huge draw and would bring in thousands of fans to watch him fight in the Dunkin' Donuts Center.
A fight with Rubio could possibly draw even more Mexican fans to watch. The only problem is that Rubio has a chance at beating Chavez—Rubio hits harder than Manfredo Jr. and Barker.
Actually, if you looked at Chavez Jr’s. face after the Zbik fight, Zbik was able to do a number on him despite being a “feather” puncher. Rubio would do far more damage than that, and the fact he just disposed of former undefeated boxer David Lemieux shows he could end up giving Chavez his first loss.
After the Contender and rematch with Sergio Mora, Manfredo Jr. spent most of his time in the Super Middleweight division, where he is no stranger to title fights. He has fought for a world title two times in the Super Middleweight division against Joe Calzaghe and Saiko Bika.
Both times Manfredo Jr. lost by TKO in the third round. Since then, he made his return back to Middleweight and claims that he is more comfortable in this weight class. He recently won the IBO Middleweight title last year, but was recently stripped of it due to the IBO not approving of his choice of opponent.
If this fight between Chavez Jr. and Peter Manfredo Jr. was to occur, the venue for the fight would be an interesting choice. Two possible locations are the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, and the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
As I said before, Manfredo Jr. already draws thousands to see him fight there. It also isn't too far for the growing Mexican population in New England to drive down to. However, the Alamodome would probably be able to draw a much larger crowd, due to the fans that Chavez Jr. already has in the area and his previous two fights there.
Personally, I would love for this fight to occur—not for Chavez Jr., but for Manfredo Jr. He’s fallen on some hard times since the end of the contender, losing about two million dollars in local real estate investments.
His job right now is to clean and maintain the very same arena in which he headlines about three times a year. I really do hope that Manfredo Jr. gets this fight because financially, this would help him out incredibly.
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