Saul “Canelo” Alvarez: The Future is Now – Bring On Gennady “GGG” Golovkin

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By Agustin Perez

After the “Fight of the Century” between Floyd Mayweather, JR. and Manny Pacquiao fell terribly short of expectations, fans were left with a bad taste in their mouth. This past Saturday night, boxing fans were able to collectively rinse with cinnamon flavored mouthwash. A crowd of nearly 32,000 people witnessed Saul “Canelo” Alvarez wipe out James Kirkland. In the third round, a crushing right hand to Kirkland’s jaw ended the fight, sending his limp and lifeless body to the canvas.

The action was intense and the violence was unmitigated. It was boxing, which at its best is both savage and beautiful. Canelo was impressive, every round he showed off his vast array of talents. In round one, Canelo demonstrated tremendous poise under fire as Kirkland came out throwing bombs. The patience was there and so were the crisp combinations, it was a left hook to the body followed by a straight right hand that put Kirkland down for the first time in the fight. In the third round, Canelo avoided Kirkland’s straight left hand and countered beautifully with a scintillating right upper cut which sent Kirkland to the canvas once again. A few seconds later came the knockout punch, which was preceded by a jab to the body; a feint that forced Kirkland to lower his arms to block his torso, leaving his head open for the right hand.

Canelo, 45-1-1, 32 KO’s, delivered once again as he has time after time over his nearly 10 year career. At age 24, Canelo’s resume is impressive with wins over future Hall of Famer, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, then undefeated champion, Austin Trout, and slick Cuban southpaw, Erislandy Lara. Canelo also has knockout wins over former welterweight champions, Carlos Baldomir and Kermit Cintron. Canelo makes fights the fans want to see and ducks no one, including the best pound for pound fighter in the world, Floyd Mayweather, JR., who he fought in the fall of 2013. Mayweather won a majority decision which to date is the only loss in Canelo’s professional boxing career.

There are only a handful of fighters that can “carry the baton” in the post Mayweather/Pacquiao era and Canelo is one of them. His star power is undeniable; according to Nielsen Media Research, Canelo’s bout against Kirkland, drew an average audience of 2.146 million viewers (peaking at 2.296 million viewers). That is the most viewed fight on HBO since 2006.
This is not new for Canelo who has a history of drawing huge ratings and live crowds. His wins over Kermit Cintron in 2011 and Josesito Lopez in 2012 both drew well over 1 million viewers. In April of 2013, over 40,000 fans packed the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX to watch Canelo’s unification bout against Austin Trout. Just a few months earlier, Trout had defeated Puerto Rican superstar, Miguel Cotto, to capture the WBA Junior Middleweight title.

Long time HBO boxing analyst, Larry Merchant once said “Nothing can save boxing and nothing can kill it.” The notion of boxing being dead has been overblown many times, especially after the lackluster fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao. People said boxing was dead after Ali retired, then again after the Leonard, Tyson, and Chavez era. The Canelo era is underway and for Saul, the future is now.