Julio Cesar Chavez Jr defends his WBC middleweight title against Peter Manfredo Jr at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas in the early hours of Sunday morning (2 AM UK time). Chavez Jr is the son of the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez, himself a three weight world champion and arguably Mexico's greatest ever fighter. Despite growing up with a markedly different set of circumstances than his father, Chavez Jr has thus far displayed the heart and desire of a champion. Tonight he takes on the WBC's fourth-ranked middleweight in Manfredo Jr, a solid campaigner with 11 years experience under his belt against quality opposition.

Chavez Jr v Manfredo Jr will be shown live on BoxNation (Sky channel 456), the action starts at 2 AM.

25-year-old Chavez Jr ( 43-0-1, 30 KOs) has had to endure no-end of criticism throughout his eight-year boxing career. Born when his father was already an established, undefeated world champion and boxing superstar in Mexico, Chavez Jr grew up in the lap of luxury, but nevertheless chose to spend countless hours hanging out around his father's many training camps. 

At the age of 16 years old and without any amateur experience, Chavez Jr told his father he wanted to become a professional boxer. His father watched him sparring in the gym, and then gave him his blessing, and with that the boy turned professional in September 2003 with a four round decision over one Jonathan Hernandez.

Because he had no amateur fights, Chavez Jr has had to learn his craft on the job, which is why for the first few years of his career he faced virtually every journeyman that could be found both in Mexico and in the United States. Despite the weakness of opposition, and because of his legendary name, his baby faced good looks and his amateurish but exciting fighting style, Chavez Jr had little trouble creating a following and packing out venues on both sides of the border.

In December 2005 Chavez Jr was held to a draw in a tough fight against fellow Mexican Carlos Molina. Three months later the two met again with Chavez Jr just scraping by on a majority decision. Carlos Molina is now a world ranked light middleweight who defeated Kermit Cintron earlier this year.

Chavez Jr continued winning but had another scare in July 2008, scoring a razor thin split decision over one-time prospect Matt Vanda. The two faced each other in a rematch four months later and this time Chavez Jr won by a landslide. 

By now the young Mexican was defeating fighters of the caliber of Luciano Cuello (W 10) and Jason LeHoullier (TKO 1), victories that were pushing him further up the WBC world rankings, but his promoter Bob Arum felt that the young star lacked discipline and was not improving as a fighter.

Arum skillfully manipulated a meeting between Chavez Jr and boxing's top trainer Freddie Roach by inviting the fighter along to watch Manny Pacquiao in training. So impressed was Chavez Jr by Roach's handling of Pacquiao, he asked him if he would train him also. Roach began working with Chavez Jr immediately, and their first bout together was for the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title (in reality a WBC final eliminator) against Northern Ireland's John Duddy in June 2010. 

Duddy is respected throughout boxing as a brave warrior in the mold of Arturo Gatti - a talented boxer who loved to go to war. Duddy had lost just one fight - an off-night against the far less talented Billy Lyell - and had won three fights since. Bookmakers had Duddy a slight favorite going into the bout.

In his early career when fighting as a lightweight, Chavez Jr had tried to emulate his father's body-punching style. As the years rolled on and the boy continued to grow to his current height of 6', it was clear that he was too tall to be purely a body puncher, and therefore adapted to be more of a conventional fighter, using his height and reach and relying more on a solid left jab and right cross. 

However under the tutelage of Freddie Roach, his body punching skills were dusted off and brought back into play as a vital part of his arsenal. 

This new, well rounded version of Chavez Jr proved too much for Duddy, and he dominated their 12 rounder, winning a comfortable unanimous decision. The Duddy win established Chavez Jr as the WBC's no.1 middleweight contender, and he confirmed his position seven months later with a points win over the tricky American veteran Billy Lyell.

In June of this year, Chavez Jr put on the performance of his life so far by winning a majority decision and with it the WBC middleweight title from defending champion Sebastian Zbik of Germany. In one of the best fights of 2011, the German started quickly and displayed blistering hand speed to beat Chavez Jr to the punch time and again. The early rounds belonged to Zbik, but Chavez Jr was never disheartened, constantly going to the body whenever the opportunity arose.

By the middle rounds those body shots were starting to take their toll, and although he would be competitive throughout the remainder of the fight, Zbik began to slow down. The final third of the fight saw Chavez Jr finish like a train, but nevertheless it was an extremely close contest that could have gone either way. HBO commentator Harold Lederman had Chavez Jr winning by four points, although Compubox stats showed that the German had out punched Chavez Jr significantly.

Chavez Jr can look forward to big money super-fights in the near future against the likes of Argentinian pound-for-pound king Sergio Martinez, the winner of the upcoming Miguel Cotto Antonio Margarito rematch and of course, the ultimate dream fight between Chavez Jr and Saul ''Canelo'' Alvarez, the reigning WBC light middleweight champion and current no.1 Mexican boxing idol - a bout that would fill Mexico City's Azteca Stadium  if it were to happen.

However, first of all, Chavez Jr must deal with tonight's opponent Peter Manfredo Jr.

30 year old Manfredo Jr (37-6, 20 KOs) turned professional in 2000 aged 19 after taking part in 165 amateur bouts and winning the New England Golden Gloves. By the age of 23, Manfredo Jr was the North American Boxing Organization light middleweight champion with a 20-0 record. At this time he was invited to enter the first edition of Sylvester Stallone's ''The Contender'' reality TV show on NBC - making the final but losing a points decision to Sergio Mora. 

Although he may have lost, exposure on The Contender made Manfredo Jr a household name throughout America. He subsequently lost a high-profile rematch with Mora at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on an eight round split decision, but nevertheless, such was his fame that two wins later and Manfredo Jr was challenging Welshman Joe Calzaghe for the WBO super middleweight title before 32,000 fans at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in April 2007.

For one of the few times in his career, Manfredo Jr was clearly out of his depth against the Welshman, and was easily beaten in three one-sided rounds. 

Since the Calzaghe defeat, Manfredo Jr has fought thirteen times, winning 11 and losing just twice – a ten round points decision to former WBC 168 lb champion Jeff Lacey, and a third-round TKO to perennial contender Sakio Bika in 2008. He has won his last six fights on the bounce.

Ironically, Manfredo Jr used to be trained by none other than Freddie Roach. The American is a stylish boxer who has decent but far from concussive power. In his 11 year career, he has yet to defeat a genuine marquee fighter and is unlikely to achieve that tonight against Chavez Jr.

In his bout against Sebastian Zbik, Chavez Jr weighed 180 pounds on the day of the fight - 20 pounds over the middleweight limit. Although Manfredo Jr has competed as a super middleweight for most of his career, he dropped down to the 160 lb limit to win the lightly regarded IBO middleweight title with a 10th round TKO over Angel Hernandez. At 5'10'' he is likely to be dwarfed in size by Chavez Jr. 

Despite the face that he is far from a devastating puncher, Chavez Jr throws a lot of leather and his body punches in particular are hurtful. So far his chin has looked solid, and he finished 12 hard rounds against the sharp punching Zbik with barely a mark on his face, which is a glowing testament to his defensive skills.

I see Manfredo Jr being simply overwhelmed by the sheer volume of punches both to the head and body that will be heading his way in the ring tonight. The American is game, and still possesses the skills to make the fight interesting for a few rounds, but the reality is he does not hit hard enough to keep Chavez Jr at bay.

Chavez Jr has won his last three bouts on points and is overdue a stoppage win, which I think he will get tonight, either via a 10th round TKO or Manfredo Jr's corner pulling him after ten tough rounds.

Chavez Jr via TKO in ten. 

Big Fights Odds: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr 1/7, Peter Manfredo Jr 9/2 bet365