Chavez excited about being on card

LAS VEGAS – Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who has slowly developed his skills against mediocre opponents for the past six years, has been itchy to get a taste of the big time.

That might finally be happening for the son of a legend. Junior fights another journeyman, Troy Rowland, on Saturday at the MGM Grand but he will receive the greatest international exposure of his career on the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto undercard on pay-per-view television.

After that, promoter Bob Arum said, Chavez could fight John Duddy in what would be the toughest fight of his career. And Chavez’s goal is to fight for his first world title sometime in 2010.

“I’m happy to be on this fight card with these big fighters,” Chavez said through an interpreter. “I’m happy to have this great opportunity. All the fighters on the undercard have extra pressure because we haven’t been on this big stage. I hope to shine on Saturday.”

Chavez (40-0-1, 30 knockouts) doesn’t appear to be nervous at all, which isn’t surprising. He was at his famous father’s side for many big fights as a child. To him, this is normal.

That would also apply to Rowland, another limited opponent for Chavez. The 34-year-old product of Grand Rapids, Mich., Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s hometown, has a good record (25-2, 7 KOs) but has fought primarily other journeymen. And the seven knockouts would seem to indicate he has little power.

Obviously, he's another carefully selected opponent.

Chavez said the right things about him but couldn’t resist looking into the future.

“I respect Troy Rowland,” he said. “I think he’s a really good fighter. I think after this fight I’ll look for big fights but I’m trying not to look past him.”

In other undercard fights: Daniel Santos (32-3-1, 23 KOs) of Puerto Rico defends his junior middleweight title against Yuri Foreman (27-0, 8 KOs) of Israel; and Jesus Soto Karass (24-3-3, 16 KOs) of Mexico faces Alfonso Gomez (20-4-2, 10 KOs) of Tustin, Calif., in a 10-round welterweight fight.