By Keith Idec

Disproving opposing trainer Nacho Beristain is among the things motivating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. as he heads toward his must-win fight against Marcos Reyes on Saturday night in El Paso, Texas.

Beristain, a Mexican legend who has trained Reyes for the Chavez fight, has criticized Chavez numerous times in the past and recently indicated Chavez’s change of trainers, from Joe Goossen to Robert Garcia, isn’t going to fix what’s wrong with Chavez (48-2-1, 32 KOs, 1 NC). When asked about Beristain’s criticism, the 29-year-old Chavez expressed his displeasure with the International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer’s comments.

“Robert Garcia is a great trainer,” Chavez said through a translator. “He has the respect of a lot of people. He’s a respected trainer. I don’t understand what Nacho Beristain’s problem [is]. In the past he has criticized me and also criticized other people. In his career, he goes around criticizing people.

“But the stats are different. I’m the first Mexican middleweight champion in [boxing history]. I’ve only had two defeats. One was to the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter, [Sergio] Martinez, and I knocked him down and almost knocked him out, almost finished the fight. And the second was against a natural 175-pounder [Andrzej Fonfara], who was ranked No. 4 in the world, who was a very top-level fighter. On July 18th, I’ll show Nacho Beristain and everybody else that I’m one of the greatest fighters.”

Chavez’s 10-round super middleweight fight against Reyes (33-2, 24 KOs), his first since Fonfara forced him to quit on his stool April 18 in Carson, Calif., will be the main event of a Showtime telecast from the University of Texas-El Paso’s Don Haskins Center (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.