Mikey Garcia: If Chavez Jr. is Well Prepared, He Can Beat Canelo
Feb 12, 2017 • 5:08 PM ET
By Miguel Rivera
WBC lightweight world champion Mikey Garcia is giving Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. a very good shot - if he's well prepared - to beat Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on May 6th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Chavez Jr. was at one-time trained by Mikey's older brother and trainer, Robert Garcia. The former WBC middleweight champion is now being handled by Hall of Fame trainer Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain and conditioning coach Angel "Memo" Heredia.
The fight takes place at a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds - with Chavez Jr. coming down from 168 and Canelo, holder of the WBO's junior middleweight title, moving up from 154.
But the competitive nature of the fight will depend on two factors - Chavez's ability to make the catch-weight of 164.5 without killing his body, and his ability to stay focused in training camp.
Chavez's mental focus has strayed in past camps, which saw him blow up in weight and compete as high as 172-pounds for some of his fights in recent years.
If he's able to make the weight safely, and stays disciplined in camp, Garcia gives him a real good shot to pull off the upset.
"It all depends on Chavez Jr. If Julio comes well prepared, well motivated.... if he comes in with that force, with that desire - I give him a good chance to win because he is big, he is strong and if he hits Canelo he can hurt him. But if Julio does not come well prepared, if he does not come equally motivated... because we know that Canelo is always well prepared, always comes at 100%, [and if Julio is not fully prepared] then Canelo has the advantage of winning," Garcia told ESPN Deportes.
"164 for Canelo , it's the same thing, 160 or 164. The one who can be affected a little bit [by the catch-weight] is Chavez Jr. If he does not take good care of himself, and struggles to make the weight - then if it can give him problems. But the fight itself is going to be a good fight where the two of them will give everything to win and because of that I think the public wins."
