Canelo Alvarez: Floyd Mayweather JR’s Boxing End: The Launch of the Mexican Superstar – Boxing News

By Geno McGahee

We are less than a month away from the biggest fight that boxing has seen in a long time. The undefeated pound for pound best in the game, Floyd Mayweather, JR., 44-0, 26 KO’s, has answered the boxing fans and has taken on the best available opponent in the light middleweight champion, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, 42-0-1, 30 KO’s.

For years, Manny Pacquiao was on the radar as the man that would actually challenge Floyd, but back to back losses to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez has eliminated him from the running. As this public battle took place between Floyd and Manny, Canelo had slowly been establishing himself as the best possible foe. Style-wise, he matches up very well with Floyd and he poses danger that Money Mayweather has not seen in a long time.

There are several reasons why this fight is taking place. One, there is a lack of serious marketable competition for Floyd. Sergio Martinez looked horrible in his last outing, Manny Pacquiao was flattened by Marquez, and nobody wants to see him rematch one of those that he has beaten in the past. Secondly, in his last fight with Robert Guerrero, it proved that the public can’t be fooled completely. It was a mismatch and Showtime reportedly lost money on the pay per view. He has to redeem his value by taking on somebody that the public wants to see him face. Canelo is an easy sell. Finally, this is a money fight. With a 50 million dollar guarantee, Floyd is looking to cash in on one of the biggest paydays in the history of the game.

The recent track record of Floyd is impressive, but when you look at the list, you can separate it into two groups: the past their prime and the young mediocrities. His last four fights consisted of wins over great fighters beyond their better years in Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley, and two fighters in over their heads in Victor Ortiz and Guerrero. There was no doubt in any of those four fights as to who would win. In fact, there has been little doubt in any of Floyd’s fights as to who would win. The last time that the public was split on prediction for a Mayweather fight was in 2001 when he took on the undefeated Diego “Chico” Corrales.

Canelo Alvarez is young at 23-years-old, but he has plenty of experience and learned a lot in his last five fights. He beat up the tricky and skilled Alfonso Gomez (TKO-6), battered former champion Kermit Cintron into submission (TKO-5), gave Shane Mosley the beating of his life (UD-12), overpowered Josesito Lopez (TKO-5) and eked by Austin Trout (UD-12) in his last fight. Although the scorecards favored Alvarez by scores of 118-109. 115-112 and 116-111, it can be argued that Trout was fighting evenly. Unfortunately, the open scoring stopped the fight from happening naturally. When Alvarez realized just how far ahead he was, he had no reason to chance it or finish strongly. Many are pointing to the Trout fight as a reason why he won’t beat Floyd, but it’s misleading.

The closest comparison to this match up has to be the 1993 showdown at the Alamo between defensive boxer, Pernell Whitaker and Mexican slugger, Julio Cesar Chavez. The styles are very similar going into this one and it will be up to Alvarez to adjust inside the ring…something that Chavez was unable to do with Whitaker.

The favorite in this fight is Floyd. He has proven a lot more in his career and there are still questions surrounding Canelo. Oscar De La Hoya lost to Floyd, but found the key to defeat him. He found that when he jabbed, Floyd lost his effectiveness and if Canelo can mix in a good amount of jabs with his body work, he could bring something new to the plate that Floyd won’t be able to deal with. Canelo must be able to adjust in the ring because you can be sure that Floyd will as he has in the past. If Canelo can’t adjust, expect a Floyd show down the stretch.

What makes this fight so exciting is that Floyd is facing a younger, bigger, stronger, confident challenger with star potential. At 36, with sparse activity, Mayweather, JR., may be ripe for the picking and if anyone in boxing can knock him off his perch, it will be Alvarez. Boxing fans have earned this treat and with Lucas Matthysse vs. Danny Garcia as the supporting bout, this is a pay per view that should not be missed.

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