By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. says the lopsided odds on his Mexican showdown with Canelo Alvarez don’t bother him.
Don’t buy it.
Angel Heredia, Chavez’s strength and conditioning coach, told BoxingScene.com on Thursday that being a huge underdog against an opponent he doesn’t like has provided plenty of motivation throughout his recently completed training camp. Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) was a 6½ -1 favorite over Chavez (50-2-1, 32 KOs, 1 NC) at the MGM Grand sports book Thursday night.
Nevertheless, Chavez, 31, stands four inches taller than Alvarez, 26. According to Heredia, he also could out-weigh Alvarez by 15-plus pounds by the time their bout begins Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
“Definitely, he’s motivated for this fight,” Heredia said. “Obviously, he’s in the process right now where he’s just chilling, waiting for the time to come. But he was motivating himself a lot. Jean Pascal, another great boxer and client of mine, he came down to do some work with him [at training camp near Tocula, Mexico]. A lot of Mexican boxers – ex-world champions, world champions – were there all the time. And that was motivation.
“[Trainer] Nacho [Beristain] is a hell of a motivator. He was always talking to him, always exchanging things about the past. That makes you motivated. Underdogs are big, big dogs sometimes. And that’s a motivation for him. Being the underdog is a huge motivation for Junior. He wants to upset [Alvarez].”
Heredia believes Chavez’s confidence stems from being in better shape than usual for their HBO Pay-Per-View main event. The former WBC middleweight champion must meet a contracted catch weight of 164½ pounds Friday afternoon at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
That’s the lowest weight Chavez has had to reach in the nearly five years since losing a unanimous decision to Argentina’s Sergio Martinez in their middleweight title fight in September 2012. Heredia still is certain Chavez won’t have any issues making weight.
“When you have a boxer who’s trained physically well, he’s already confident,” Heredia said. “[Chavez] used to tell me, ‘In these fights, I didn’t train as much and I still went 12 rounds and I was exchanging.’ And now, two weeks before coming in [to Las Vegas], we did 12 rounds [of sparring]. He did look good. And then he got up and did another four rounds. That gives him the boost of confidence that he’s gonna be able to do whatever Nacho says in the fight.
“The motivation for him is winning this fight. He wants to be the king of Mexico. He doesn’t wanna be known for fighting and that he lost to Canelo because they don’t like each other. Outside of the ring, I’m sure they like each other. But this is a competitive fight, where they hate each other. I’m sure after the fight they’re gonna hug and say it’s all love and all that. But at the end of the day, they want the same thing. This is not about money. This is about egos. This is about wanting to be the best. That’s the motivation for both of them.”
The weigh-in for the Alvarez-Chavez fight can be viewed on HBO’s YouTube channel or BoxingScene.com at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. ET on Friday. The four-fight HBO Pay-Per-View telecast is set to begin at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Saturday and will cost $69.99 in HD.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
