Chavez Jr, Nacho Get Off To a Fantastic Start in Camp For Canelo

By Miguel Rivera

On Tuesday, it marked the first time that Hall of Fame trainer Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain held a training session with former world middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at the Otomí Ceremonial Center in Mexico.

At the camp, Chavez Jr. also began working with strength and conditioning coach Angel "Memo" Heredia.

Chavez Jr. retained both Nacho and Memo to prepare him for the upcoming fight with countryman Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, which is scheduled for May 6th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A catch-weight of 164.5-pounds is in place.

In the morning, Chavez gathered with his team around the Otomí Ceremonial Center to begin camp after the long and intense press tour in which he toured five cities in same number of days with Canelo to meet with fans and media to hype their HBO Pay-Per-View showdown.

Nacho, who helped crown 27 world champions - including Rey Vargas who last Saturday captured the WBC world title in the UK - was very impressed with what he saw from Chavez Jr. after putting him through a lot of hard work from the opening gate.

The work ethic of Chavez Jr. even surprised Nacho, who had his concerns after hearing all of the stories regarding the Mexican boxer's troubled past when it came to hard work in camp.

"He did not complain at all, we loaded him up and he showed a lot of disposition. He looks very strong," said Nacho to ESPN Deportes.

"He worked really well, he gave me a very good impression of himself to tell you the truth."

Chavez Jr. also felt very comfortable after going through a variety of trainers in the last few years, including Robert Garcia, Joe Goossen and even Freddie Roach.

"Nacho looked happy. We worked well today," Chavez said. "It's a matter of us engaging, of us continuing to work with a lot of disposition and discipline."