On March 8th, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1 30KOs) will try and rebound from his first lost he suffered back in May when he takes on Alfredo Angulo (22-3 18KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Other fighters that were being looked at as far as opponents included Interim WBA titlist Erislandy Lara, current IBF Champion Carlos Molina, and former Multi-World Champion Miguel Cotto.
Soon after news broke that Cotto was offered $10 million to take Alvarez, Cotto decided to turn his attention to the current WBC Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez instead. Once the decision needed to be made, Canelo and his camp thought that Angulo would be the best fit. “He (Angulo) is the best style for me. He’s strong and likes to come forward. This is the fight the fans want most.”
Canelo Alvarez has captivated the casual audience for years with his Irishesque looks as well as his charm. Years of build up and preparation culminated this past May when Alvarez took on the pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather, in what turned out to be the most profitable fight in boxing history. Although the fight with Mayweather was one sided, as Alvarez showed that he as well as most other boxers are just not on the same level as the Champion, most of the 154lb fighters were holding their breath with anticipation for the form WBC titlist to select his next opponent. After there were some rumblings about Cotto fighting Canelo; once that fell through, he was in the position to select his next opponent.
Angulo has wanted the fight with Canelo for years, but once Alvarez picked Angulo, Carlos Molina took to social media stating that he thinks Canelo is afraid to fight him. Not only does Canelo believe the fans would prefer the fight with Angulo instead of Molina but he also thinks this is the tougher matchup for him as well “The fans know this is the toughest fight and those comments were uncalled for.”
Canelo with this PPV will be the first fighter that is coming from a loss then in his next fight headline his own PPV telecast. With what seems like a never ending list of PPV fights, fans are typically left pulling extra hours at work or picking and choosing what fights are most important. With an entire nation behind him, Canelo feels that his PPV success will come from his fans support, “I have loyal fans and I think they will follow me through thick and thin.”
The fight in May was officially ruled a Split Decision but anyone with eyes could see that this was a fight that should have been clearly scored a unanimous decision for Mayweather. Now coming off a loss and it will almost be a full year since Alvarez was last in the ring, Canelo says he has learned from the loss and is focused to correct what made him unsuccessful against Floyd.” It was very hard (losing to Mayweather) and it hurt my honor. It’s a learn experience and I will make the best of it.” Canelo continued, “Whenever you suffer defeat you never want to go thru that again, I am very motivated from it.”
