De La Hoya: Saul Alvarez is ready for Mayweather and Cotto

By Boxing News - 05/07/2012 - Comments

Image: De La Hoya: Saul Alvarez is ready for Mayweather and CottoBy Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya was sky high after watching his fighter 21-year-old WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KO’s) defeat 40-year-old made to order Shane Mosley last Saturday night.

At the post fight press conference, De La Hoya said this about Alvarez: “He had the opportunity to finish Shane Mosley. I’m not sure which round. He should have gone after him…At 21-years-old, he showed a lot tonight. You watch, his next fight, he’s going to be a totally different fighter because every single fight he’s learning. Is he ready for the Cottos and the Mayweather’s? Absolutely! Nine, ten, seven, six months from now, absolutely he’s ready.”

I don’t think Alvarez is ready for either Cotto or Mayweather, not the way that Alvarez looked against the ancient Mosley. He doesn’t fight with enough intensity, seems to one-paced and gasses out after seven rounds. Alvarez looked exhausted by the midpoint of the fight, and he wasn’t even really getting hit with anything.

Ideally, Golden Boy needs to at least put Alvarez in with someone that has some power and offensive skills to punch back at him instead of the shot, old fighters that they’ve been putting Alvarez in with. Come on, 40-year-old Carlos Baldomir, 40-year-old Shane Mosley, 40-year-old Lovemore N’dou, Kermit Cintron, Matthew Hatton, Alfonso Gomez and Ryan Rhodes. Where’s the quality? The one constant you have here is none of them were an offensive threat to Alvarez.

So De La Hoya wants to go from putting Alvarez with Mosley to having him fight Cotto or Mayweather? I think that’s a really bad idea. At least have Alvarez fight a step up opponent like Delvin Rodriguez, Vanes Martirosyan or Erislandy Lara before you put him in with Mayweather or Cotto. Alvarez will end up getting torn apart if he’s finally put in with someone that can fight back instead of just taking punches. I wasn’t impressed at all with Alvarez last Saturday. He looked flustered by Mosley, and frustrated because Mosley kept coming forward all night long. I can see Alvarez panicking if he faces someone with some power that’s cutting him and hurting him with shots, and isn’t bothered by his one-paced style of fighting. Alvarez seems to be missing 4th gear in his offense. He’s great at fighting at a certain speed and pace, but he’s missing that last gear and that makes him beatable.



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