By Dan Ambrose: Legendary trainer Nacho Beristain sees WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in a good position to impress the fans and prove to them how good he is after the way he let them down recently in his questionable win over Miguel Cotto last November.
Beristain thinks that Canelo deserved to lose to Cotto in that fight, and he doesn’t understand what’s wrong with the young Mexican star. Beristain likes the way that Canelo fights, but he can’t figure why he keeps struggling when he faces guys like Cotto, Austin Trout, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Erislandy Lara.
Beristain thinks that Canelo can show off his boxing skills in his upcoming fight against Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) on May 7. He believes this is the fight where Canelo can finally show off his arsenal. According to Beristain, Canelo is fortunate that Khan doesn’t have Mayweather’s skills.
“The good thing here for Canelo is that Khan doesn’t have [Floyd] Mayweather’s defensive style. Khan likes to put on a show which means the fight will be spectacular,” Beristain said to ESPNDeportes.com. “I think Canelo has everything in place to put on a show,” Beristain said. “I think it’ll be sensational from the moment the bell rings and hopefully Canelo can take this opportunity to regain his credibility with people. I like how he fights; he has good skills. I don’t know why it has been so tough for him.”
The reason why it’s so tough for Canelo is because he doesn’t have the skills needed for him to beat the top guys conclusively. He’s a good fighter, but he’s also someone that gets over due to his size more so than his skills. We’re going to find out this year what Canelo can do when he gets inside the ring with Gennady Golovkin, who is just a little bit lighter than him. I expect it to be a massacre with Canelo getting beaten up and stopped even easier than David Lemieux was recently in his ninth round stoppage loss to Golovkin last November.
“It’s a great opportunity for Canelo to prove to people that he has something. For me, he lost the fight with [Miguel] Cotto and this is a great opportunity to put on a display, because the Englishman is a good boxer, an excellent boxer,” Beristain said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ulaz0lA2uM
I think this fight could backfire for Canelo if he comes into it weighing 20+ pounds more than Khan. It’ll look like a bully in the ring with a smaller guy, and fans will be turned off by Canelo. I think it’s a no-win fight for Canelo. If he destroys Khan, then he won’t get credit because he’ll likely be so much bigger than him.
If Canelo struggles to beat Khan and still wins, then Canelo’s stock will go down with fans because of him being so much bigger than Khan. Of course, if Canelo loses to Khan, then it’s going to do major damage to his career because fans will see Canelo as just a guy that is famous for the way he looks rather than what he does in the ring.
Right now, Canelo is famous for being famous, but not because he’s done anything special as a fighter. Canelo lost to the best guy he faced in Mayweather, and his wins over Cotto, Trout and Lara were all questionable. Canelo hasn’t stepped up to face Golovkin yet to show that he’s a real fighter and not just a matinee idol to fans from his native country of Mexico.
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