Santos Saul Álvarez Barragán, better known as Canelo, which translates to ‘cinnamon’ for his fiery red hair, has spiced up the boxing scene since his debut. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1990, this pugilist has clinched world championships across four weight divisions, making him a staple in the Hall of Fame pantry. Canelo unified titles in three divisions and claimed lineal championships in two, notably overpowering Miguel Cotto in 2015 for the WBC, Ring, and lineal middleweight crowns. Outside the ring, Canelo’s life is just as sweet, sharing it with his two kids, Emily Cinnamon Alvarez and Mía Ener Álvarez, and his wife, Fernanda Gómez, since 2021. According to Forbes, Canelo is worth at least $275 million!
By Dan Ambrose: Juan Manuel Marquez is giving Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) no chance of beating the heavier and stronger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their fight on May 7 on HBO pay-per-view.
Marquez thinks Canelo will stop Khan when he decides to. Marquez feels that Khan will need to move constantly in the fight, because as soon as he stops moving, it’ll be over for him. Marquez sees Khan’s fragile chin as being his undoing in this fight. Without the ability to take Canelo’s heavy power shots, Khan will wind up losing, according to Marquez.
By Scott Gilfoid: WBA “regular” welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) thinks that Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) took the easier option in facing WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) for his next fight on May 7 rather than agreeing to fight IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook 35-0, 24 KOs) for his title in the summer.
Thurman notes that Canelo has slow hands and feet, and he sees him as an easier option for Khan than Brook, who has a good jab and nice right hand. Thurman thinks Brook moves better than Canelo.
I’m not sure that I agree with Thurman that Khan has taken the easier fight in facing Canelo. I happened to see Brook’s fight against Shawn Porter in 2014, I was totally unimpressed with Brook, especially with the way he held 10 times per round and got away with it due to the referee not stepping in to take points off.
By Dan Ambrose: Former world title challenger Lucas Matthysse (37-4, 34 Kos) will be moving up to the welterweight division for his next fight, and he’s being talked about fighting in the co-feature bout on the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez v. Amir Khan fight card on May 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With Matthysse being targeted for the co-feature bout, it’s going to mean that he’ll very likely be matched against a fairly tough opponent. Hopefully, Matthysse is up to the task because this would be his first fight in the 147lb division at the full weight.
Matthysse, 33, lost his last fight to Viktor Postol by a 10th round knockout last October. Matthysse quit in the 10th round after suffering an eye injury. However, before he quit, Matthysse was being dominated by Postol and going very little.
It’s unlikely that Matthysse will do any better at 147 than he did at 140. He’ll be facing bigger guys that have better power, size and hand speed. You can understand why Matthysse would want to move up in weight because the potential for bigger money fights would be there for him if he can pick up enough wins to get a high ranking. Mattysse might even get a world title fight in the near future if he can fight frequently enough to get ranked.
By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) thinks that he took the harder road by signing on to challenge WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) than if he were to have faced Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao for his next fight.
Those two superstars rejected Khan as an opponent, and instead they went with other fighters. Mayweather ended his career last September against Andre Berto, whereas Pacquiao is fighting Tim Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) on April 9. Bradley just vacated his WBO 147lb title, so that takes a lot of the interest out of the fight for me.
“I’m going to be a little bit smaller than Canelo,” Khan said. “Canelo is known as a dangerous guy that not a lot of people want to fight and a lot of people avoid. I am one guy that said, ‘I’ll fight.’ I could have taken the easy route. If I had taken Mayweather and Pacquiao, it would have been an easier fight.
By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says HBO didn’t reject Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) as an opponent for Manny Pacquiao’s next and perhaps final fight of his career on April 9 on HBO PPV. Arum says he was told by them that WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley was a more difficult opponent for Pacquiao, and a fighter that would bring in more sales than Khan or Terence Crawford.
Arum said previously that the cable and satellite distributors had rejected Khan as an opponent for Pacquiao. If that’s the case, then it’s going to be bad if the Khan vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight brings in many more pay-per-view buys than the Pacquiao-Bradley fight on HBO PPV.
By Francisco Gurrola: Recently in my last article titled “Canelo with edge over Cotto,” I clearly described the way the fight would play out; to my surprise, it was quite accurate. It is no science to have the ability to read a fighter for his accomplishments. Looking at what WBC Middleweight Champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has accomplished recently it is evident that the young Mexican fighter has earned a spot at the top of boxing today.
Come May 7th, 2016, we will be evidencing a great match up between Amir “King” Khan and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a fight televised by HBO Championship Boxing at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
By Scott Gilfoid: Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) isn’t too sure whether he should keep going at middleweight if he defeats WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) on May 7 in their catch-weight fight at 155lbs. If Khan defeats Canelo, he would be forced to defend his WBC middleweight title in his next fight against WBC mandatory challenger Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs).
While Khan is good with fighting the “flat-footed” Canelo, as he describes him, he does not seem too eager to step inside the ring and face Golovkin in what could be his next fight. In other words, there are limits to how far Khan wants to go in the middleweight division.
Fighting a flawed, slow-footed Canelo is something that Khan is not that worried about. But fighting a guy with one punch-power like Golovkin, that seems to be a step too far for Khan.
By Dan Ambrose: IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin thinks that people are underestimating the speed that Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) has going for him in his fight against WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) on May 7. Khan, 29, has been pretty much written off by a lot of boxing fans.
”People underestimate Khan’s speed #Canelo vs Khan #Canelo,” Golovkin said on his Twitter.
Golovkin is wise to see Khan as being overlooked in this fight because he’s got much better hand speed and mobility than Canelo can ever hope to have. Khan is so much faster than Canelo, and that’s going to help him a lot in this fight.
By Dan Ambrose: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) says he and his trainer Virgil Hunter are both working on a special game plan that they will be perfecting to defeat the bigger, stronger, “flat-footed” WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their fight on May 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Khan says he’s not going to just stand in front of Canelo in this fight, and he’s not going to try and trade with him. More than any fight that he’s ever had, Khan says he’ll be fighting in a smart manner by boxing Canelo and not look to take chances like he’s done before.
By Dan Ambrose: Superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. thinks Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) agreed to move up in weight to face the much heavier and stronger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) because he believes he can do what he did in his fight against Canelo in 2013.
Mayweather out-boxed the larger Canelo by using his speed, quick jabs and movement to win a 12 round majority decision. Mayweather thinks that Khan is going to try and do the same thing that he did in out-boxing Canelo.
The Khan vs. Canelo fight will take place on HBO PPV at a catch-weight of 155lbs. Canelo’s WBC middleweight title belt will be on the line for the fight, which suits Khan just fine because he wants a chance to win the title.