By Keith Idec, photo by Hoganphotos

NEW YORK – Canelo Alvarez hasn’t given his healed right hand a second thought during training.

The Mexican superstar tested it out recently and doesn’t expect his right hand to be an issue during camp or during his fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6 in Las Vegas. Alvarez suffered an avulsion fracture to his right thumb during the second round of his last fight, a ninth-round knockout of England’s Liam Smith on September 17 in Arlington, Texas.

“I feel good,” Alvarez said through a translator earlier this week, during a stop on the press tour to promote the Chavez fight. “It feels good. I’ve already been given clearance. I’ve already been hitting with my hand in sparring. I feel really good. Come fight night, I will be 100 percent with my hand.”

The 26-year-old Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) visited a hand specialist in Mexico soon after defeating Smith to win the WBO super welterweight title at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium. Dr. Pedro Jaime Lomeli didn’t recommend surgery. He instead immobilized Alvarez’s hand for six weeks and prescribed extended rest.

The injury prevented Alvarez from partaking in a fight HBO would’ve televised live on the network December 10. Alvarez took the rest of the year off, before finalizing an HBO Pay-Per-View showdown with Chavez (50-2-1, 32 KOs, 1 NC), his rival from Mexico.

The five-day, four-city press tour to promote the Alvarez-Chavez fight, which began Monday in Mexico City, is scheduled to conclude Friday afternoon near Los Angeles.

The event is open to the public. Fans are asked to arrive at Plaza Mexico, located at 3100 East Imperial Highway in Lynwood, California, at 2 p.m. PT. The “Fan Fiesta” is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. PT.

Soon after the press tour concludes, Alvarez and Chavez are expected to start their training camps for their scheduled 12-round fight at T-Mobile Arena. The bout will be contested at a contracted catch weight of 164½ pounds, by far the highest weight at which Alvarez has agreed to fight during his 11-year pro career.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.