Canelo will struggle against a defensive-minded Mayweather

By Boxing News - 06/14/2013 - Comments

canelo453By Dan Ambrose: Now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) has his father Floyd Sr. training him once again, Mayweather Jr. is a much more defensive-minded fighter than he was when he was being trained by his uncle Roger Mayweather.

Floyd Sr’s main focus is defense and he doesn’t like to see his son get hit, and you can bet that the entire training camp to get Mayweather Jr. ready for his fight against WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) will be aimed around keeping Mayweather Jr. from getting hit.

Mayweather is impossible to hit when he’s putting his energy into his defense. I don’t care how much Canelo outweighs him for this fight. He’s not going to be able to hit Mayweather in this fight because Mayweather isn’t going to let him. He’s not going to do the things he did against Miguel Cotto by standing in one place and choosing to trade.

Mayweather won’t do that because he knows that Canelo will likely have a 20 pound weight advantage in this fight, and he also knows that the only chance Canelo has to win is if he’s stationary for him. Canelo is a flat-footed fighter and he can’t fight on the move.

Mayweather won’t play his game because he realizes that Canelo is too big of a fighter for him to trade shots. Mayweather is a welterweight at 147, whereas Canelo is closer to a light heavyweight at 172. There’s no way Mayweather will choose to slug with a light heavyweight.

If you watch Canelo fight, a lot of the punches he throws are raking shots to the body with both hands. Canelo is kind of predictable in the punches he throws. He likes to lean over and throw and then a right to the body and then come upstairs with a couple of head shots. Mayweather is going to take away Canelo’s ability to throw to the body because he’s going to make sure he keeps Canelo far enough away to where he won’t be able to land anything to the body unless he lunges forward. If Canelo does that then he’s going to be susceptible to getting hit by Mayweather.

In a way it’s actually easier for Mayweather Jr. to be facing a fighter as heavy as Canelo because it means he’s going to be slower than Mayweather, easier to hit and a lot easier to move away from. Canelo is just a big middleweight and he’s sacrificing a lot to squeeze down to 154 to fight against 147 lb. fighters like Mayweather.

When you’re having to lose 20 pounds to make weight like Canelo will for this fight on September 14th, it can make you weaker, slower and much easier to beat. Therefore, Mayweather’s job will be much easier than it would be otherwise if he were fighting someone that’s not dieting or draining himself to make the weight.

Mayweather and Canelo will be fighting at a catch-weight of 152 lbs. for this fight and that’s going to take a little more of out of Canelo to have to lose that extra weight. For a fighter that is BARELY making 154 as it is, I think it’s going to really hurt Canelo to have to make 152; that is, if he doesn’t choose to come in over the limit.



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