By Jake Donovan

By the time Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. hits the ring on Saturday night, he can take great comfort in the fact that his career-best purse is already covered.

Chavez’ showdown with lineal middleweight king Sergio Martinez at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas approached sold-out status on Tuesday afternoon. The 19,186 tickets sold produces a live gate of more than $3 million, which means enough money to satisfy Chavez Jr’s $3 million purse and into the undercard without even worrying about pay-per-view sales.

Martinez (49-2-2, 28KO) will earn $1.4 million for the fifth defense of his middleweight championship. This week’s bout marks his first pay-per-view headliner, topping a broadcast distributed by HBO PPV.

Chavez (46-0-1, 32KO) makes the fourth defense of the alphabet title he acquired last summer. Saturday night serves as his first attempt at a genuine championship.

Guillermo Rigondeaux will earn $150,000 for his on-again, off-again co-feature showdown with Roberto Marroquin, who gets $50,000 for his first title shot.

Remaining purses, as provided by the Nevada State Athletic Commission:

Roman Martinez will make $50,000 for his 12-round alphabet title fight with Miguel Beltran Jr, whose purse information was not provided as of press time.

Matthew Macklin returns for the first time since a heartbreaking loss to Sergio Martinez earlier this year. The middleweight contender earns $85,000 for his televised preliminary bout with Joachime Alcine, who makes $61,000.

Rounding out the televised portion, wildly popular Notre Dame grad Mike Lee opens the telecast with a six-round bout against Paul Harness. Lee will make $50,000; Harness earns $2,000.

Off camera action features another offspring of a former ring great. John Jackson has been blessed with similar punching power that made his father – former two-division champ Julian Jackson – one of the most feared hitters of his time. The younger Jackson will make $8,500 for his 10 round super welterweight bout with Willie Nelson, who gets $10,000 for his opponent role.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox