Canelo training for Cotto or Sergio Martinez

By Boxing News - 10/26/2013 - Comments

canelo5443By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s) is already back in the gym training for his next fight which will be against either WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez or Miguel Cotto. Canelo will be meeting with Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya in their office in Los Angeles to sign a contract for his next fight and it’s expected to be either Cotto or Sergio, according to Esto.

Canelo’s adviser Eddy Reynoso said this via Esto “It will be a big fight, possibly against Cotto or Martinez of Argentina.”

The red-headed Canelo took the past month off after his disappointing 12 round majority decision defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last month in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo, 23, was convinced that he was going to win the fight, but he ended up getting totally dominated by the 36-year-old Mayweather. The judges scored the fight 116-112, 114-114 and 117-111. However, it was perhaps even more of a lopsided fight than the judges scored it and they appeared to be giving Canelo the benefit of the doubt in some of the rounds in which he landed very punches. Mayweather dominated every round and made Canelo looked like a flat-footed fighter.

Canelo will need to improve his fighting style if he wants to beat the likes of Cotto and/or Sergio Martinez because they’re equally as advanced as Mayweather is and they’ve got the power to give Canelo huge headaches. We saw how Canelo backed up against the ropes several times in his loss to Mayweather and how he did the same thing in his victory over Austin Trout last April. Canelo gave away rounds doing that, and he should have lost more rounds in the Trout fight by spending the 2nd half of the fight with his back against the ropes. Canelo needs to work on his stamina and learn from his loss to Mayeather. If Canelo can become more Mayweather-like in his fights, he could possibly beat Cotto or Martinez. Right now though it would be difficult to see Canelo getting past either of them.

There’s not a lot of interesting targets for Canelo if he can’t get a fight with Cotto or Martinez. He would likely have to face a welterweight like Victor Ortiz or Robert Guerrero. I could even see light welterweight Lucas Matthysse pulled up to the 154 lb. division to face Canelo. Don’t be surprised if Matthysse ends up in the ring with Canelo. We already saw Canelo defeat 140 pounder Josesito Lopez last year in September. Canelo destroyed Lopez by a 5th round TKO.

Sergio Martinez’s movement, experience, power and hand speed would give Canelo a lot of problems, and I’d be very surprised if Golden Boy and Canelo’s management were willing to let him fight Sergio coming off of a loss to Mayweather. Of course, Canelo can get his way no matter what they want him to do because is the boss after all, but I think it could end up badly for him if he does take that fight. Sergio is too good for him right now and Canelo needs a confidence booster.



Comments are closed.