Julio Cesar Chavez Jr says deal to fight Badou Jack is close
Wednesday 17 February 2016 11:09, UK
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr has revealed a deal is very close for a world title fight with WBC super-middleweight champion Badou Jack in April.
Former WBC middleweight champion Chavez Jr (49-2-1-KO32) has been out of the ring since fracturing his hand during a unanimous decision win over Marcos Reyes in July.
Jack (20-1-1-KO12) last fought in September when he successfully defended his title against George Groves on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather's win over Andre Berto in Las Vegas.
Chavez Jr told ESPN Deportes: "They are still negotiating; it seems things are going well. Perhaps in the next few days they will confirm the fight.
"They tell me they are missing a few details but it seems they are close, but there is nothing official so far and I do not want to look too far ahead."
Chavez Jr has been criticised in the past for his lack of discipline between training camps and has failed to make weight on more than one occasion, including for his last fight against Reyes.
The Mexican has also had difficulty settling on a trainer, using four different ones in his last six fights.
He hired Robert Garcia for his win over Reyes and the duo have already begun training in anticipation of the fight against Jack being finalised for April.
"He [Chavez Jr] is already in camp," Garcia said to fighthype.com. "He's already training. He's in a house in Big Bear where there's nothing to do, and he only eats what the cook feeds him. So that's going to be a big advantage there.
"The plan is to be up in Big Bear and lose as much weight as he can for the first three to four weeks. Remember, the fight won't be until the end of April, so we got a good three months."
If the bout does go ahead, one very interested observer will be Liverpool's Callum Smith, who is set to take on Hadillah Mohoumadi on April 2 in a WBC title eliminator.
A win for Smith in that fight would set him up to face the winner of the potential bout between Jack and Chavez Jr.
