(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) says he’ll be studying tape of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s first fight against Jose Luis Castillo in April 2002 to get ready for his September 14th fight against the 36-year-old Mayweather. Canelo seems to be under the impression that the Mayweather-Castillo I fight holds some valuable keys to him beating Mayweather Jr.
Canelo said “We plan to study a lot of tape, especially his [Mayweather] first fight with Jose Luis Castillo, who gave him the most problems. I know I haven’t reached my peak yet and that I have a lot to learn.”.
Canelo’s wasting his time if he thinks he’s going to get any hidden gems from the first Mayweather-Castillo fight because there’s nothing to get from that fight. Canelo might as well be watching cartoons because he’ll learn as much about to beat Mayweather from that then he will from the Castillo vs. Mayweather fight.
That’s the fight that Mayweather injured his right hand early in the fight and was forced to use his left hand for pretty much the remainder of the fight. Before Mayweather hurt his hands in the 3rd, he had dominated both the 1st and 2nd rounds easily.
After he hurt his hand, Mayweather switched to southpaw to use his left as his power hand and he was fighting with one hand from that point on. Even with Mayweather fighting with one hand, he still dominated Castillo in the center of the ring for the full 12 rounds. The only time Castillo was able to land was when he would get Mayweather up against the ropes.
Castillo was 9 pounds heavier than Mayweather in that fight, and the weight advantage in addition to Mayweather’s hand injury gave Castillo some advantage. Obviously it wasn’t enough because he still lost the fight.
Castillo was a MUCH different fighter than Canelo is now, so even if Canelo wanted to ape Castillo, he wouldn’t be able to do it because Castillo was faster, better at cutting off the ring, and a much more active an energetic fighter than Canelo.
Castillo could fight hard for the full three minutes of every round. Canelo is lucky if he can fight hard for 1 minute of every three minute round. He’s not going to be able to do what Castillo did because he doesn’t have the stamina or quickness.
Canelo watching Castillo fight is like someone watching an expert guitar player and then thinking he can play exactly like that person immediately. Canelo will never be able to fight like Castillo, never.
Canelo is more like the junior middleweight division’s version of Arthur Abraham with his inability to fight hard for three minutes of every round, his flat-footed fighting style, and his tendency to try and win a round based on a flurry thrown in the last 10-20 seconds. Castillo was never that kind of fighter.
In his two fights with Mayweather, Castillo worked hard the entire time and put an enormous amount of pressure on Mayweather. If you watch those fights, Castillo was actually jogging after Mayweather to keep the pressure on him, and he did this for 12 rounds.
Do honestly think Canelo can do that? If he were to try and fight like Castillo for even round, Canelo would be bent at the waist huffing and puffing, totally gassed out by the end of the round. Canelo doesn’t have the stamina that Castillo had, so it’s pointless for Canelo to watch the Castillo-Mayweather fights.
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