By Chester Rivers: The mega fight between Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is more than two months away and the boxing world is already ablaze. By now, many boxing fans know of Mayweather’s mega deal with Showtime which could be worth in excess of 250 million dollars.
Boxing fans also have heard about Mayweather’s less than desirable pay-per-view numbers in his last fight against Robert Guerrero. And boxing fans also know that the sports most loyal, knowledgeable and passionate fans are of Mexican descent with their favorite son being the very young and somewhat untested Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. With that being said, I’m asking the question is this a Great Fight Or Media Hype?
In Mayweather, you have a former Golden Gloves champion, Olympic bronze medalist and a world champion for the last sixteen years in five different weight classes. Early in Floyd’s career he was known for his impeccable defense and sneaky power. He was considered as one of boxing most avoided fighters.
The top champions like Shane Moseley and Oscar De La Hoya saw a fight with Floyd as the risk out weighing the gain. Mayweather’s destruction of champions Diego Corrales and Arturo Gatti only cemented their thoughts because Mayweather, a fighter from the Midwest, had such a poor following.
Mayweather would go on to fight and defeat both Moseley and De La Hoya towards the end of their careers. Mayweather 36, defeated Robert Guerrero in May. Floyd’s performance against Guerrero instilled renewed confidence in Mayweather fans that their favorite fighter still has a lot left in the tank despite his age.
Saul Alvarez, a Mexican fighter, is known mostly for his red hair and freckles whose moniker is “Canelo” which translates to cinnamon. Besides the fact he looks more like the kid next door than a Mexican national, what has Alvarez accomplished to deserve possibly one of boxing’s riches fights?
Alvarez has been boxing professionally since the age of 15. He won the WBC super welterweight title by defeating Matthew Hatton. Hatton, the younger brother of Ricky Hatton, was a welterweight moving up a weight class to fight for the vacant title. Until now, Alvarez’s most notable opponent has been Shane Moseley. Although Moseley has a storied career, Sugar Shane has been a shell of his former self since the second round of the fight between himself and Floyd Mayweather.
Alvarez last fight was an impressive lopsided win over little known WBA champion Austin Trout, a fight most think was a knockdown away from defeat.
Golden boy Promotions, Alvarez’s promoter, has often been criticized for putting their young lion in with much smaller and slower prey. Saul would perform as scripted by destroying his opposition beating most into submission.
Alvarez has never missed a weigh-in of 154 pounds but will always re-hydrate in upwards of 165 pounds. Some feel his excessive weight may be the cause of young Alvarez showing fatigue in the second half of his fights if they go the distance. Many analysts see Alvarez out-weighing Mayweather about 20 pounds on fight night because Mayweather heaviest re-hydration has been 151 pounds and Alvarez 173 pounds.
I think the Mayweather team originally signed this fight for Alvarez’s popularity and media coverage. When you measure the tangibles vs. the intangibles this could be a great fight. Several questions will need to be answered. Can Canelo impose his size or will it be negated by Mayweather’s movement? Will Floyd’s experience be too much for Alvarez to overcome? Will Mayweather have enough power to test Saul’s untested chin? Will Alvarez have enough boxing skills to offset Mayweather’s defense? Will Mayweather pick up the pace and test Alvarez stamina?
My prediction : Alvarez’s team will try to attack early because they are very conscious of Saul’s stamina issues. His attack will often cause him to bull rush and get to Mayweather early in the fight. Mayweather will survive the early attack with movement and adjust to Alvarez’s tactics. Alvarez will exert a lot of energy and by round 5 will show extreme fatigue. Mayweather will use precise punch placement and movement to frustrate and dominate Canelo from that point forward. The first 4 rounds will be a Great Fight. Starting in rounds 5 and beyond subscribers, after paying $70.00 will realize this fight is all Media Hype.
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