Newly crowned WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (43-0-1, 30KO’s) has promised to put on a great show against Peter Manfredo (37-6, 20KO’s) on Saturday night at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas and in truth will be expected to. Having won his title against Germany’s Sebastian Zbik last time out, this will be Chavez’s coming out party and Manfredo looks highly unlikely to spoil it.

“Once you become world champion, you accept the responsibility of training hard and getting better,” Chavez said.

“I want to be champion for a long time. I’ve never trained this hard for a fight. I want to give the people of Houston a great fight.”

Originally Chavez was scheduled to face another son of a legend, Ronald Hearns, but Hearns had to pull out with an injury to his hand after he cut it on, of all things, a ceiling fan. This gave Manfredo an opportunity he doesn’t really deserve but the Providence, R.I fighter will give his all as usual. A lot of people have said Chavez is a manufactured, protected fighter, and fights against the likes of Manfredo aren’t exactly going to help that accusation.

For his part, all Chavez can do is win the fights. A veteran of 44 bouts at the age of just 25, he has crafted his skill in the pro ring carefully and methodically, but a look at his record tells us he has fought nobody of any note up to this point, unless you consider John Duddy a World class talent. It may be disrespectful to Chavez to say as much, but it remains the harsh truth.

30-year-old Manfredo probably wont get another shot. He may have already thought he’d had his last chance but has racked up a six-fight winning streak against decent if not great opponents and is probably on the roll of his career, but the level he’s been fighting it will give him no preparation for a fight of this magnitude whatsoever. Manfredo will have to draw on his experience of fighting the likes of Joe Calzaghe and Jeff Lacy, even though those fights seem long in the distance these days, and use it against Chavez if he is to stand any chance.

Does Peter Manfredo have a chance against Chavez? Of course he does. Fighting as a super-middleweight until recently blue-collar tough guy Manfredo should be the bigger, stronger man. Nobody can truly judge Chavez’s ability as a top-level fighter because he’s never really fought against one, but against Manfredo you’d expect the Culiacan fighter to have a distinct edge in ability at least. Chavez hasn’t always looked great, getting drawn into wars too readily on occasion, and failing to impress on nights when he was supposed to, but all that shouldn’t matter until he is put in with a better opponent than Manfredo.

The way both men fight, it’s hard to envisage anything but a gruelling, bloody battle. Although both can box a bit, neither can resist getting involved in toe-to-toe tear-ups and fans watching should be in for an exciting, if possibly one-sided, old-fashioned slugfest.

For all Chavez’s supposed technique and boxing ability, he is, like his father before him, a macho fighter who often lets pride get the better of him. That’s where the similarity between father and son ends though. Chavez Sr. was a marauding, body-punching pressure fighter with legs as thick as his arms, and tough as soaked leather, but Jr doesn’t seem to possess the same toughness. He certainly doesn’t possess the same skill. Now that he has teamed up with Freddie Roach we may see an improvement from him, especially in defense, which is something he has promised to improve.

“I trained with my family for a long time, but it’s different than training with a great trainer like Freddie Roach,” Chavez said. “He has given me a lot of discipline. He has taught me a lot about being a professional. He’s given me that dedication through training to get ready.”

All the right things are being said, and both fighters sound motivated, but there looks to be only winner on Saturday night in Texas. And it isn’t Peter Manfredo. He will have to go some to prove he isn’t just there to make up the numbers, but could have an outside chance against such an untested opponent. If he does lose he says he will retire, but he can always fall back on his full-time laboring job in Providence.

“I have to pick one or the other, being a father or being a fighter, and with the kind of money, unless I win this, then there’s no question,” Manfredo said. “How many more shots am I going to get? Let’s be honest here. This is my best opportunity. This guy [Chavez] isn’t a great fighter. Come on. I think I’m better than he is. If I can’t beat him, then I’m going to retire. I’m not going to hang around for years. For what?

“If I can pull this off, then I can be a rich man and it would set me up for a perfect ending to a wonderful career. But if I can’t beat this guy, then I’ll retire and go home and be a father and be a husband and do my thing.”

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