By Oscar Decide
SAUL ‘Canelo’ Alvarez seems to increase his scintillating story when he collides with harmful super-middleweight puncher Edgar Berlanga this Saturday.
The unified world champion will return to his fortress – the T-Cellular Area, Las Vegas – as an amazing favorite, hoping to proceed his dominance at 168 lbs.
Nonetheless, ought to he want to elevate his greatness, and presumably even grow to be the best Mexican boxer of all time, then Canelo should merely safe extra legacy-defining moments past his subsequent outing.
With that being mentioned, the pound-for-pound star will undoubtedly have a lot to have a good time when he does, ultimately, grasp up the gloves.
Canelo Alvarez’s story thus far
Alvarez’s close to 20-year profession started in 2005, when the Mexican, merely a freckle-faced 15-year-old on the time, made his skilled debut.
It was slightly below 5 years later, although, when he overcame his first intestine test, stopping Jose Cotto – brother of Miguel – within the ninth spherical after recovering from a pointy left hook early doorways.
Then, earlier than dealing with a light model of the as soon as formidable Shane Mosley, Canelo claimed his first world title towards Matthew Hatton, with the excellent victory initiating a ruthless surge that will later see him grow to be generally known as the “Brit basher.”
However after making six defences of his WBC trinket, the super-welterweight was decisively outpointed by Floyd Mayweather in 2013, regardless of one decide, whose 114-114 scorecard stays one of many worst in current reminiscence, forgetting her Specsavers appointment that morning.
Regardless, Canelo was in a position to answer his first setback with a exceptional diploma of maturity, reinventing his type to grow to be a extra defensively accountable operator.
And these enhancements in the end led to him taking notable scalps over the likes of Erislandy Lara – albeit on the beneficial facet of a contentious resolution – and Miguel Cotto who, like Mosley, was a far cry from his prime.
In fact, these performances, adopted by a brutal show towards a severely undersized Amir Khan, earned Alvarez a slightly undesirable popularity, with a collection of followers branding him as a fighter who, as a substitute of taking over all comers, prefers to flesh out his document towards questionable opposition.
This was till he collided with Gennady Golovkin, after all. After securing world honours in 2010, after which spending the subsequent six years pulverising anybody he stepped within the ring with, the fearsome Kazakh entered his eagerly awaited conflict with Canelo because the bonafide king at 160 lbs.
Furthermore, Golovkin’s harmful energy, coupled together with his opponent’s evasive manoeuvres, made for an much more compelling type matchup than most had anticipated.
Tom Hogan/Hogan Photographs/Golden Boy
And but the evening was considerably stained by a merely baffling scorecard of 118-110 in favour of Canelo, contributing to a extremely controversial outcome that left many both hopelessly vexed or completely surprised.
For each combatants, then, a rematch was the one possibility. And, as soon as once more, the showdown didn’t fail to ship fireworks, with the pair offering one other 12 rounds of enthralling motion earlier than Alvarez – this time with a extra assertive efficiency – emerged victorious.
Quickly after, a brand new chapter of the seasoned campaigner’s story was cast when he discovered a house for himself at super-middleweight.
Whereas, following the Golovkin fights, Canelo had placed on an imposing show towards Daniel Jacobs, earlier than dethroning an ageing and weight-drained Sergey Kovalev at 175 lbs, it might be mentioned that section two of his illustrious profession solely began to take form when he employed a novel however efficient tactic towards Callum Smith, bludgeoning the Liverpudlian’s arm together with his battering ram of a proper hand.
It was then slightly below a yr later when he amassed all of the jewelry – dispatching Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant with emphatic stoppages – to grow to be the undisputed champion at 168 lbs.
Suffice to say, every little thing was going in accordance with plan till he returned to light-heavyweight; solely this time, it was to tackle a extremely expert technician on the peak of his powers.
The scale disparity was one factor, however towards Dmitry Bivol, a grasp of vary management, Canelo was additionally compelled to contend together with his opponent’s elite-level footwork.
Dmitry Bivol assaults Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on the T-Cellular Area on Could 7, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada (Ethan Miller/Getty Pictures)
And so, within the wake of his second skilled defeat, a transfer again all the way down to super-middleweight – arguably his strongest division – was seemingly probably the most smart possibility.
Nonetheless, at this level, Alvarez discovered himself in an uphill battle to copy his earlier success. A considerably underwhelming trilogy with Golovkin and a large unanimous resolution victory over John Ryder—extending his document towards Brits to 8-0—preceded his showdown with Jermell Charlo, whose passive efficiency made for a frankly uninspiring affair.
And now, with the 34-year-old coming off one other routine title defence towards Jaime Munguia, one would suspect that the four-weight world champion’s greatest days within the sport are dwindling.
