By Miguel Rivera

Former WBC middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (49-2-1, 32KOs), who turned 30-years-old on Tuesday, says a deal is very close for a world title clash with once-beaten WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (20-1-1, 12KOs).

Chavez is currently training with coach Robert Garcia in California. A date for the Jack fight is tentative for April 16th in Los Angeles.

The Mexican fighter has been out of the ring since a decision win over Marcos Reyes last July. He suffered a bad hand injury during the contest and that forced him out of the ring for the remainder of the year.

Jack was in the ring in September, when he successfully retained his title against mandatory challenger George Groves on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Andre Berto pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Chavez desperately wants to become the first Mexican fighter to win a world title at 168-pounds, but he may get beaten to that punch if Gilberto Ramirez defeats Arthur Abraham on April 9 as part of the Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley trilogy card.

The two sides are still negotiating and Chavez was told by his adviser, Al Haymon, that a few details needs to be worked out. Jack is promoted Floyd Mayweather Jr., who Haymon also advises.

"They are still negotiating, it seems that 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. told ESPN Deportes.