(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: UFC president Dana White is picking Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) to defeat WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Caneo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) on September 14th. White didn’t say much about the fight other than predicting Mayweather Jr. will win a decision. He’s obviously seen enough of the flat-footed Canelo to know that he’s out of his class against Mayweather.
White said to esnewsreporting.com “Floyds going to do what Floyd does and win on points.”
I have to agree with Dana. Mayweather’s not going to get in the trenches and try and beat a fighter as big as Canelo by a knockout. I think Mayweather would attempt to do it if Canelo was closer to his own weight, but with red-haired Mexican fighter likely weighing in the 170s for this fight, and Mayweather only 150, I think that’s going to cause Mayweather Jr. to focus on getting the decision.
If Canelo exhausts himself late in the fight by trying to work for a full 3 minutes of every round in 1 minute, I can see Mayeather gunning for a knockout under those conditions. If he sees Canelo red-faced, mouth wide, gasping for breath, and looking like he’d there to be taken, then Mayweather will flurry on him to get the stoppage. But I’m not sure if it’ll come to that because Canelo paces himself by throwing few punches.
The only time he really opens up is if he’s been matched by Golden Boy Promotions against a stationary fighter that stands in one place making it easy for him to use his weight advantage. But Mayweather isn’t going to stand and let the light heavyweight sized Canelo pound on him in this fight. He’s going to use movement, and nail him with shots while moving around the ring.
I can see Canelo tiring out just from having to follow Mayweather Jr. around the ring. Canelo isn’t used to having to move much because he’s been in with mostly stationary fighters during his career. Mayweather is going to be a huge change from the normal guys that Golden Boy has fed to Canelo.
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