Julio Cesar Chavez Jr retained his WBC middleweight title with an emphatic fifth round TKO over fourth-ranked contender Peter Manfredo Jr at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas on Saturday night. It was the first title defense for 25-year-old Chavez Jr (44-0-1, 31 KOs) and was his first inside the distance victory in two years. The tall, powerfully built Chavez Jr dominated his vastly experienced opponent from the off and laid down a marker to the other top middleweights in the world including current pound-for-pound king Sergio Martinez.

There have been vast improvements in Chavez Jr since he teamed up with Freddy Roach last summer. The two began working together prior to Chavez Jr's June 2010 WBC eliminator against John Duddy. Under Roach's expert tutelage Chavez Jr won a landslide decision against an opponent who was expected at the very least to give him serious trouble.

He followed that win up with a comfortable points decision over cagey veteran contender Billy Lyell. In the past, Lyell might have been a banana skin for the Mexican, as he had for other prospects (Lyell was the first man to defeat Duddy) but Chavez Jr handled him easily.

Chavez Jr showed even further improvement when he won the WBC world title from Germany's Sebastian Zbik in June of this year. Zbik proved to be a quality champion with excellent boxing ability and blinding hand speed, yet Chavez Jr wore him down with a dogged body attack, and then dominated the final third of the bout to win a close majority decision.

After the big wins over Duddy, Lyell and Zbik, the Manfredo Jr fight could have been simply a case of treading water for the young Mexican. In the past Chavez Jr may have been content to eke out a points win over an opponent like Manfredo Jr, but he instead set out to prove to his fans and his critics that he is for real and deserves his place amongst the top middleweights in the world today.

Although Manfredo Jr was busy and competitive for the first four rounds (post-fight stats reveal Manfredo Jr threw far more punches than the champion), it was Chavez Jr who was landing the heavier, more telling blows. The Mexican gains as much as 20 lbs in the 24 hours between making middleweight and climbing in the ring, and it showed, especially in round five. A big combination sent Manfredo staggering into the ropes, and when the follow-up barrage of punches went unanswered, referee Laurence Cole was forced to jump in.

It was a perfect first defense for a champion many fans and experts still see as a manufactured fighter and a vulnerable titleholder. Chavez Jr himself is gung-ho about who he wants to fight next, and his main target is Sergio Martinez, the sublimely talented and heavy hitting Argentinian who is universally regarded as the best middleweight in the world. 

''I'm ready.'' was his reply during the post fight press conference when names like Martinez, the winner of the Miguel Cotto Antonio Margarito rematch and Saul ''Canelo'' Alvarez, current WBC light middleweight champion and Mexico's current no.1 boxing idol were mentioned. 

The rumors coming out of the Mexican camp post-fight were of a possible bout between Chavez Jr and Britain's Darren Barker for early 2012. Barker put on a great show against Martinez in a fight  for the Argentinian's WBC Diamond middleweight title (the equivalent of the WBA's ''Super'' world champion belt), breaking the champions nose and leading the fight by the middle stages before running out of gas and being knocked out in 11 round.

Another rumor gathering steam was Bob Arum's ambition of matching Chavez Jr against none other than Oscar De La Hoya in a huge money fight next year. The head of Golden Boy Promotions will be 38 in February, hasn't boxed in three years and has more millions in the bank than he could ever hope to spend. 

However, as Chavez Jr himself articulated after defeating 30 year old Manfredo Jr (37-7, 20 KOs), having a fighters heart isn't tempered by being wealthy or coming from a life of privilege:

''I've been converted from a spoilt kid...  into a real fighter.''

He certainly has.