Chavez Jr. has great trainer for Canelo fight

BoxingNews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will be trained by legendary trainer Nacho Beristain for his Mexican rivalry against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) for their fight on May 6 on Cinco de Mayo on HBO PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’s going to be Beristain’s job to not only get Chavez Jr. ready for the actual fight itself, but also to help him whittle his weight down to the 164.5lb for the catch-weight for the fight. As most boxing fans already know, Chavez Jr. has had problems making the 168lb limit ever since he moved up to the super middleweight division in 2013 after campaigning at middleweight for many years.

In hindsight, Chavez Jr. probably should have skipped the 168lb division and gone straight to 175, because he’s said by some to be rehydrating to the 190s for his fights. It’s crazy for Chavez Jr. to have to melt down to 164.5lbs for the Canelo fight, but the money is obviously so good that he was willing to agree to the weight for the fight.

Even as good a trainer as Beristain in, he’s not a miracle worker. If a fighter’s body isn’t designed to fight at a particular weight, it doesn’t matter how good their trainer is. The only thing Beristain can hope for is that Chavez Jr. isn’t too badly weight drained for the fight.

More than likely, Chavez Jr. will struggle by the mid-point in the fight. He should still be strong in the early rounds of the fight against Canelo. If Chavez Jr. can do damage to Canelo in the first six rounds, then he might be able to coast the last six to possibly get the win. I don’t think the chances are good of Chavez Jr. getting the win, but obviously he was selected with the idea in mind that Canelo would have a big advantage in activity level and with the weight for the fight.

Beristain said this to ESPN.com about Chavez Jr’s task ahead of him against Canelo:

“It’s not an easy, it’s a challenge, you have to work hard with him because he’s in the best position to train,” said Beristain in talking about Chavez Jr. “I asked him to put all the meat on the grill, the intention, the idea, that he has to win. It’s going to be a great fight,” said Beristain about the Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. fight.

Beristain is a good trainer. If he can get Chavez Jr. to get his weight and conditioning right for this fight, he could give Canelo a lot of problems. Canelo has terrible stamina. He’s a fighter that can only fight hard for about a minute of every round. He spends either the other two minutes resting against the ropes or staying on the outside moving as little as possible.

If Chavez Jr. can put pressure on Canelo and hit him with body shots, he’s got a chance of winning the fight. Chavez Jr. should forget about trying to hit Canelo to the head, but he’s like a bulldog when it comes to taking head shots. I think Canelo is a lot more vulnerable when getting hit to the body. Guys with stamina issues like Canelo can’t take it to the body.