Canelo, Thurman, Broner, Crawford- the Future Faces of Boxing?

thurman74By Lance Lank: Just a couple years ago it seemed that after Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao retired from the sport of boxing that there would be no new stars. That there would be no one that the public would be interested in, let alone pay money to see fight on PPV cards.

The only rising star seemed to be Andre Ward, but having already easily beaten every top contender at 168 and the best at 175 there were no opponents left that might pose the slightest problem to the super middleweight king. That much has stayed true. Sure, Ward can move up to 175 and fight Tavoris Cloud, but that might not seem so good if Cloud gets beat by the ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins this Saturday.

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Is Canelo more popular than he is talented?

alvarez43345By Dan Ambrose: It was interesting recently to see the unproven but HIGHLY popular red-haired Mexican fighter WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) trying to throw his weight around to pressure boxing’s #1 fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. into fighting him in September.

It was kind of an odd thing because Canelo, a Golden Boy Promoted fighter, has gotten used to having things his own way due to his huge popularity among Mexican boxing fans.

But the thing is Canelo hasn’t proven himself to be in the same class as Mayweather or even some of the top fighters, and it just seems like Canelo is someone that is getting to the top of the sport more based on his popularity with his diehard Mexican fans than on what he’s actually done in the ring. What has Canelo done during his career?

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Malignaggi: Trout is going to be a tricky opponent for Canelo

trout35By Dan Ambrose: Paulie Malignaggi doesn’t know who to pick in the April 20th match-up between WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) and WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Malignaggi sees it a fight that can go either way, but he’s especially concerned about it going badly for the flat-footed Canelo.

Malignaggi said to hustleboss.com “It’s a tricky fight for Canelo. It’s not going to be easy.”

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Trout wishes his fight with Canelo was still on the May 4th Mayweather-Guerrero card

trout2By Dan Ambrose: This past week, WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) chose to pull a self-defeating move this past week in deciding not to fight on the May 4th due to Floyd Mayweather Jr. failing to sign a contract to fight him in September. Instead, Canelo will be moving his unification fight against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) to the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on April 20th.

The move was done because Canelo didn’t want to help Mayweather if he wasn’t going to get the mega fight with Mayweather in return. Trout wasn’t too happen with his fight with Canelo being pulled from the Mayweather card because he realizes how much attention the fight would have received had it stayed on that date.

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Canelo: Mayweather doesn’t want to fight me

alvarez5By Dan Ambrose: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) tried and failed to exert pressure on Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) to get him to agree to a fight in September in exchange for Canelo agreeing to fight on his May 4th undercard.

Mayweather didn’t want to sign the contract to fight Canelo, and because of this Canelo pulled out of the card and will be fighting on separate date on April 20th against Austin Trout in San Antonio, Texas.

“I have no need for Mayweather to impose conditions because I can have my own fans…the truth is he does not want to fight me.”

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Canelo Alvarez and the Mexican consumer power in boxing

alvarez343By By Hector Gonzalez: Canelo Alvarez dropped out of the Mayweather vs Guerrero card after Mayweather refused to sign an agreement that Mayweather and Alvarez would fight in September during Mexican Independence day if it is that both fighters are to win their designated matches on Cinco de Mayo.

Canelo than drops out of the card and reschedules his bout with Austin Trout to April 20th stating that he is not going to he help Mayweather sell PPV sales if Mayweather is not helping him. All I could say is good for him. My support for Canelo Alvarez’s decision is not necessarily based on skill or accomplishments in the ring, but more importantly, it’s based on consumer power and in the case of Canelo Alvarez and the Mexican boxing community they have much clout. Enough so that Canelo and other Mexican fighters should be dictating more of their terms.

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Cotto: Canelo can beat Trout if he brings his power

alvarez4334By Allan Fox: Miguel Cotto believes WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) has a good chance of beating WBA champion Austin Trout on April 20th in their unification bout. Cotto is pretty familiar already with what the 27-year-old southpaw Trout brings to the table after having been beaten by him by a 12 round unanimous decision last December by the scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 119-109.

Trout didn’t overpower Cotto, but instead used movement, a steady jab and plenty of speedy shots to keep the shorter Cotto on the outside unable to land his big power shots.

Cotto said to RingTV “If Canelo brings his strength, I could see him winning, but it is going to be a tough, tough fight.”

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Trout a risky fight for Canelo

alvarez675By Dan Ambrose: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) Canelo gave himself a self-inflicted wound this week by choosing to pull out of the May 4th fight card headlined by Floyd Mayweather Jr. to fight WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout on regular non-PPV Showtime on April 20th at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas, USA.

It was a bad decision by Canelo because he didn’t hurt Mayweather very much with that move because Mayweather is already guaranteed $30 million per fight by Showtime/CBS as part of his contract.

Canelo hurt himself by pulling out of the card because he’s still facing Trout, and that’s a fight that Canelo very well may lose. But here’s the kicker, Canelo won’t receive nearly as much publicity than he would have had he fought on the Mayweather card. Talk about your dumb moves.

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Canelo will lose media exposure by pulling out of Mayweather’s May 4th card

canelo74By Dan Ambrose: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) figured he wasn’t going to help Floyd Mayweather Jr. make his May 4th fight card a huge success after Mayweather refused to sign for a September fight with him, so Canelo pulled out of the undercard and will face WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s).

Was this a smart move by Canelo to pay Mayweather back pulling out of the card? No, it was actually kind of a dense move by Canelo because Mayweather is going to fight him eventually, but Canelo tried to push it, like he was the one calling the shots.

Obviously, he’s not because he’s still totally unproven after having faced pretty much exclusively weak opponents during his 8-year pro career.

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Floyd’s decisions: Some are never happy

mayweather4565By Robert Elmore: Saul Alvarez recent demands that Floyd sign a contract to fight him in September or he would not be on the May 4th undercard made me laugh. What is even more laughable is that boxing fans (mainly Mayweather haters) seem to flip flop at every turn. When the idea of Canelo fighting Floyd came up, it was “Who has Canelo fought? What has he done to get a shot at Floyd”?

Floyd not signing is very smart. For one, this shows that he’s not looking past Robert Guerrero. Two, this forces Canelo to fight someone legitimate in his own division (WBA champ Austin Trout). But now, some are saying Floyd is scared of Canelo. Either Canelo hasn’t fought anybody or Floyd is scared. Which one is it?

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