Now that Canelo is on Mayweather’s radar

By Boxing News - 06/03/2013 - Comments

alvarez8By Babatis Banda: From the time it was known that Mayweather Junior 44-0-26 would be fighting Guerrero, there were all sorts of accusations on Mayweather’s part. Guerrero despite being a mandatory challenger and a champion in his own right, many of Mayweather’s critics increasingly made it so clear that there was no way Mayweather would choose to fight Saul Alvarez 42-0-1-30.

The argument was that Mayweather was a cherry picker and Alvarez provided a real threat to Mayweather’s unbeaten record.

While these accusations will never go away no matter who he fights, there must be some acknowledgement that it could never get any better than this. Canelo, as he is sometimes called, is not a cherry. He is young, strong and skilled. He is unbeaten and has size on his side. Canelo really does qualify to fight as a middleweight without problems. All I am saying is that all factors are really in Canelo’s favour excerpt in one department and that is skill.

We should all be happy that Mayweather is fighting Canelo. After September, we will all know where both fighters belong. It will either be Canelo the new star of the spot or Mayweather, the all-time great. In my eyes, Canelo has nothing to lose. He is still young and losing against Mayweather would not be surprising, it would be a very normal thing.

Let the truth be told. Canelo has a very remote chance of upsetting the P4P king. I am aware that Canelo is a champion, but Mayweather is on another level. I hear people talk of a puncher’s chance, well that would be all it is, just a punchers chance. Mayweather will be smaller for sure, but size never wins fights especially against Mayweather’s calibre, skills do.

Mayweather is going to disarm Canelo by the mid-rounds and he will take command in the latter rounds punishing Canelo with precise shots to the head. While Canelo does carry power, he has to find a target for it. Even when Canelo finds a target, Mayweather has a chin and this is the reason he has never been put on his back. In short, Mayweather has always been a tough customer, always in shape, a gym rat as he is sometimes referred to.

The best Canelo will do is to make it a very competitive close fight. Winning is really a remote possibility all things being equal. Mayweather is on a path to cement his greatness and he will be spoken of in the same breath as some of the greatest names that ever graced the boxing ring. His stature will not be determined by feelings of groups of men, but will be bestowed with time and on his achievements. We are witnessing greatness unfold right in our eyes and we should be thankful to the Gods that we have belonged to the same era as this fighting machine. Now that Canelo is on Floyd’s radar, let the hating stop and enjoy the spectacle.



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