By Miguel Rivera
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum is giving Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. a good chance to beat Saul "Canelo" Alvarez - if Chavez Jr. is serious about his training.
Canelo (48-1-1, 34KOs) and Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) will collide on May 6th at a sold out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. There is a catch-weight in place of 164.5-pounds.
Arum's company had promoted Chavez Jr. for nearly his entire career. He broke away from Arum's company in 2014 and signed on with manager Al Haymon.
During the last few years of his run with Arum's company, Chavez Jr. struggled with taking his training camps serious at times. He would no-show training sessions at the gym, trained at odd hours and often struggled with his weight. Those issues continued when he started working with Haymon.
Last fall, Chavez Jr. started turning over a new leaf. He started working with strength and conditioning trainer Angel "Memo" Heredia to get his weight under control. And to prepare for the fight with Canelo, he hired Hall of Fame trainer Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain, who is best known for his work with former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez.
"Unlike a lot of people, I believe Chavez has a lot of skills. His problem has been with his attitude. He now talks about taking it seriously and training with Nacho Beristain, who is a tremendous trainer as we know from his work with Marquez," Arum told ESPN Deportes.
"If Chavez is serious, and is going to train hard with Beristain and listens to Beristain - then I give him a good chance [to win]. But if Chavez goes back to his old attitude and starts believing that he knows more than a great trainer like Beristain, then Canelo will beat him. It's really all in Chavez's hands and I just wish, and I always wished when I promoted Chavez, that he had the fortitude and the dedication of his father."
