By Steve Kim
Robert Garcia is set to train Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for his next fight. They had their first fight over the summer and Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32KOs) once again battled weight and struggled to a ten round verdict over Marco Reyes in El Paso, Texas.
"We start training tomorrow," said the trainer on Tuesday morning to BoxingScene,com. "What I was told by his attorney is that it looks like towards the end of April."
And it looks like they are targeting WBC super middleweight belt-holder Badou Jack (20-1-1, 12KOs).
"That's what they're looking for and I didn't pay too much attention to Badou Jack's fights but since they told me that I've been watching his fights and if Chavez prepares himself and if he does training camp the way he should be doing it, I think he has a good chance at being a world champion at super middleweight. But he has to do things right," Garcia said.
Which is certainly a question as it pertains to Chavez and his less-than-Spartan work ethic. For his fight against Reyes he weighed in at 170.75 pounds, failing to make the contracted weight of 168-pounds. It's been a recurring theme for the son of the legendary 'Lion of Culiacan'.
So can he actually make the super middleweight limit and will he commit to that goal?
Garcia states - "Well, that's why when we're in training camp I will be staying with Julio in the house that he rented. I will be running with him in the morning, make sure he's doing it. The last camp we only had five weeks and I only saw him in the gym. After the gym, I wouldn't see him. I wouldn't see him in the morning. I would just see him the two hours in the gym and he did train and he did show up for those two hours."
According to Garcia, he was told by Chavez's associates that for the last camp, he ran no more than two times.
"So this time around," says the trainer,"I'm going to stay with him, make sure he runs and he already OK'd everything. So he knows I'm going to be there and I'm going to be pushing him."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.