When you look at Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, a fighter is not the first thing that comes to mind, unless if you’ve seen the young, but experienced fighter do business in the ring.
On November 21st from the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Canelo will take on WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto in one of the biggest fights of his career.
Both fighters have notably come up short in quests to hand the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr a loss while Cotto came the closest to doing so in a very competitive fight. Canelo on the other hand, was dominated for most of the fight.
Perhaps Canelo fought Mayweather too soon, but the former light-middleweight titlist has never looked better since the experience. In the old days, it was recommended that you don’t fight for a world title unless you’ve tasted defeat.
Some people are still not sold on Canelo, though, pointing at Miguel Cotto to come through with the victory, who has had a resurgence of his own under the tutelage of trainer Freddie Roach.
After suffering back-to-back defeats to Floyd Mayweather and Austin Trout, Cotto knew that something needed to be changed. He returned nearly a year later and has won his past three bouts in impressive fashion.
Roach has gone as far to say that Canelo isn’t as experienced as his fighter and has a tendency to be lazy.
People seem to forget that Canelo has more professional fights than Cotto despite being nearly 10 years younger.
Canelo says Cotto would be wise not to underestimate him come fight night.
“I might be a young fighter, but I also have a lot of experience, so I don’t think it’s an advantage for any side,” Canelo said. “I think that we’re both going to prepare very well and whoever is better prepared should win.”
Cotto and Canelo have also faced three common opponents in Floyd Mayweather, Shane Mosley, and Austin Trout. Is there a blueprint within any of those men to defeat Miguel Cotto?
Canelo doesn’t want to focus on just one individual. He wants to focus on everything that can help him to prepare better for Cotto.
“We’re going to analyze everything – not only the wins and losses – everything. That’s how we’re going to come out with our gameplan,” he added. “If I can utilize anything and everything, I’m going to utilize it all.”
Boxing is a crazy sport. Just because you beat one guy’s leftovers, doesn’t mean you aren’t vulnerable to the same bacteria. Just because the Native Americans were susceptible to the diseases brought to the New World by the Europeans, doesn’t mean that other people that survived one episode would survive another episode.
A perfect example would be Ali, Frazier, and Foreman.
After Joe Frazier’s upset victory over Muhammad Ali in January 1971, people thought Frazier had suddenly become superhuman.
George Foreman admitted that he was even afraid of Frazier.
Foreman not only stopped Frazier twice but got knocked out by Ali in 1976.
Canelo was asked if he felt comfortable fighting at 155, where he’s fought his last three fights at. His fight with Mayweather in Sept. 2013 was at a catch-weight of 152, and the Cotto fight will be held at a catch-weight of 155.
While moving down weight is always difficult, Canelo feels just fine where he’s at.
“It’s always very difficult obviously to come down in weight, but there’s no secret,” Canelo said. “Look, I’ve been fighting right around this weight class for a long time from 154-155. So, I feel comfortable at this weight class, and this is my weight class.”
