By Dan Ambrose: WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner doesn’t see his “big brother” Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) having any problems whatsoever in beating unbeaten WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) next month on September 14th despite the fact that Canelo will likely come into the fight at around the 170 pound mark, and enjoy a big 20 pound weight advantage over the 150 lb. Mayweather.
Broner said to Hustleboss.com “Canelo’s a hell of a fighter. I take nothing away from Canelo, but Floyd’s going to make the fight look easier than what the papers say.”
It’s going to be especially easy if Canelo tries to fight Mayweather Jr. like he did his last opponent former WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout. Canelo fought Trout like he didn’t have the stamina to throw more than 3 or 4 punches in each round, and the judges gave Canelo almost all the rounds based on a nothing work rate.
If Canelo uses the same tactic against Mayweather, he’s going to get badly out-boxed, because Mayweather is a lot better at the pot shot game than Canelo. This fight won’t be taking place in San Antonio, Texas, where Canelo has a huge amount of fans.
That means he’s going to have to actually outwork Mayweather in order to win. He’s not just going to be able to come and get rounds given to him based on a poor work rate like he had in the Trout fight. I had Trout winning that fight easy, but it shows you the advantage of fighting in front of a large crowd can do for Canelo.
Canelo’s handlers are probably going to try and push him to copy the game plan that a young Jose Luis Castillo used against Mayweather in their two fights in 2002. It’s not going to work, because Castillo was a much more athletic fighter than Canelo when he was younger, and he had better stamina and a far better work rate.
Canelo can never hope to follow the same blueprint that Castillo used, because he doesn’t have the same engine, and he’s not light on his feet like Castillo was back then. Castillo wasn’t a flat-footed fighter like Canelo is. He was able to fight on his toes, move around the ring, and trap Mayweather into exchanges. Canelo is more of a plodder that needs rest breaks.
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