(Photo Credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) By Dan Ambrose: If you’ve watched WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarado (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) fight before you’ll have noticed that he’s not exactly the fastest fighter you’ll ever see, especially with his slow, flat-footed style of moving around the ring. He’s never going to be considered a mover like a young Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Pernell Whitaker.
This Saturday night, Canelo is facing by far his best opponent of his career in WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) on Showtime from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
This fight presents all kinds of problems for Canelo because he’s going to be facing a fighting style that he’s been largely shielded from by his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions. Whether intentional or not, Canelo has not been matched against fighters with good foot speed that can move around the ring.
Golden Boy has put him in with guys that just stood there for him and were only able to move a few feet in one direction or another. The only guy that they’ve matched him against that had any mobility at all was 41-year-old Shane Mosley, but the way, way over the hill at the time he fought Canelo.
Still, Mosley clearly had Canelo frustrated and red-faced from the little movement that he used in the fight, and it definitely bothered the red-haired flat-footed Mexican fighter.
On Saturday night, Canelo is going to be the equivalent of a swimmer that has been learning how to dog paddle in a wading pool being thrown into the cold waters of the ocean and asked to swim. It’s not going to be a pleasant experience for Canelo because he wasn’t born with naturally fast feet and he’s been matched against guys that kept him from developing ways to get around his lack of speed.
Canelo said “I have to move fast. I have to watch out for Trout’s left. I’ve been studying his style and I can definitely adapt to it. It’s going to be tough, but I know I can beat him.”
I can’t see Canelo adapting because he won’t have the physical skills to adapt. He’s already been stunted due to the type of opponents he’s been put in with during his career and his sparring partners for this one camp aren’t going to be able to change that.
I see Trout beating Canelo as easily as Guillermo Rigondeaux defeated Nonito Donaire. This is going to be the same kind of fight with Canelo not having the speed to deal with the faster and more athletic Trout.
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