By Jason Kim: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KO’s) is raring to go for a mega fight against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) after Alvarez first takes care of 40-year-old Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s) and Mayweather faces and defeats WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) on May 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mayweather feels that Alvarez still needs a little more seasoning before he faces him, saying to ESPN.co.uk “Canelo is a good young fighter. I think he needs to get more experience under his belt, then down the line, yes, he can get a shot.”
It will likely have to happen soon, because Mayweather is 35, and who knows how much time he has left before he’ll start showing signs of losing his skills. At 35, Roy Jones Jr. was showing serious signs of decline his skills. Mayweather is the same kind of fighter that gets by with his blazing fast hands and his excellent defense. Once his hand speed drops off and his reflexes to see and pull away from punches, Mayweather could start suffering losses one after another in the same way that Jones is now losing. Mayweather should take the Alvarez fight sooner rather than later if he wants to get him before his own skills start to go down the drain.
If you look at Mayweather’s fights in the past year, it’s hard to miss how his legs are no longer able to carry him around the ring like they used to. Mayweather use to run around the ring all night long without getting tired. If you look at Mayweather now, he walks around the ring and fights flat-footed, as if his legs are no longer there for him. Trainer Freddie Roach has also noted this, and sees Mayweather getting over strictly on his still fast hand speed. Mayweather is more willing to engage with his opponents because he pretty much doesn’t have any other choice. He can stand in the corner and do the shoulder roll bit and try to block punches, but without his legs, he can’t move away quickly and do other things in the ring like he used. Mayweather is forced to slug it out with his opponents rather than moving.
Alvarez is a lot younger than Mayweather, but he doesn’t have good hand speed. Right now if they were to fight, Alvarez would get picked apart by Mayweather. It wouldn’t be a fight. Alvarez has the power to bother Mayweather, but he’ll have to eat an awful lot of punches for him to get anything done against Floyd.
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