Chavez Jr. Defeats Lyell, To Face Sebastian Zbik For WBC Middleweight Title Next

This past Saturday night on Fox Deportes in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, WBC ranked No. 1 and WBO ranked No. 4 middleweight (160 pounds) contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (42-0-1, 30 KOs) took on Billy Lyell (22-9, 4 KOs).

Chavez Jr., 24, was returning to his hometown of Culiacan, Mexico. He last fought there in 2006 when he was 19 years old.

Lyell, 26, from Youngstown, Ohio, took this fight on one week's notice. Both fighters had a common opponent in recently-retired John Duddy. In his last fight in June of 2010, Chavez Jr. defeated Duddy by unanimous decision. Lyell upset Duddy in April of 2009 by split decision.

Chavez Jr. came in with the height and reach advantage—6'0'' even over 5'9'' and a 73-inch reach over Lyell's 68-inch reach. From viewing the fight on TV the height differential seemed greater, maybe because of the five inch reach difference. Chavez Jr. just looked like an over towering opponent for Lyell.

The fight went the ten round distance as Chavez Jr. won by unanimous decision, scores were 99-92, 96-94 and 98-92. Lyell put up a decent fight surprisingly rocking Chavez Jr. in the ninth round. Lyell just seemed like he was out matched and the ideal opponent for Chavez Jr., a light puncher with only four victories by KO. Chavez Jr. left Lyell's face bruised and battered.

After the bout, a few disgruntled hometown fans booed, as Chavez Jr. did not look that impressive, in this victory, a second outing with hired gun trainer Freddie Roach did not produce a knockdown or knockout of Lyell.

Recently, the WBC stripped Sergio Martinez of his middleweight title, making Sebastian Zbik the new champion, making way for Chavez Jr. to face Zbik for the title in the near future.

It would seem more logical for Chavez Jr., ranked No. 1 by the WBC, to be taking on No. 2 WBC-ranked David Lemieux, with the winner facing Zbik.

Any way you look at it, many feel that once Chavez Jr. faces a upper-echelon fighter such as Miguel Cotto, Sergio Martinez, Dimitry Pirog, Felix Strum or Sebastian Sylvester, he will taste defeat for the first time and possibly end his career.