The Saul “El Canelo” Alvarez Sweepstakes

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    Seems like ever since Floyd Mayweather went to club Fed everyone’s been wondering who the next cash cow will be. Well Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will have his shot to prove himself soon enough come September 15, 2012 on Mexico’s Independence Day. “El Canelo” is sitting pretty comfortable at the 154 lb division due to some mishaps.

    There’s really no threat outside of Erislandy Lara. But of course he will continue to get passed up until he isn’t a threat to the new Golden Boy at Golden Boy. In hopes to keep Lara quiet, they keep feeding him the Ronald Hearns Jr’s and Freddie Hernandez’ of the world. This leaves Canelo with not many options at 154.

    He was set to face Paul Williams in what most can agree would have been one great fight with Williams machine gun punch output and Canelo’s power. It was sure to be fireworks but May 27th Paul Williams was paralyzed after being involved in a motorcycle crash in the Atlanta suburbs and doctors said it is unlikely he will continue his career much less walk,

    So then Canelo’s push for an opponent attention was moved to the possible winner of Austin Trout vs. Devin Rodriguez fight. That fight didn’t live up to the hype as both men came to win but not looking good enough to get the pay per view shot vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

    Austin Trout came away with the victory and kept his name in sweepstakes along with Philadelphia’s own Gabriel Rosado who has racked up 6 straight wins versus notables name with 4 of those 6 fights ending in knockout.

    ThaBoxingVoice.com had a chance to catch up with a few big names to ask their thoughts on this matter.

    Al Bernstein on Austin Trout: “It wasn’t his best performance he didn’t really step up to the plate as much as he wanted to against Delvin Rodriguez. He was a little flat during the evening and neither fighter was as impressive as they wanted to be. Maybe it wasn’t the right style match up but the ironic thing is Austin Trout may get his title shot because he wasn’t as good as he should have been. He’s a very good fighter but I think we still have to see if Austin Trout can step up to that next level”

    Steve Farhood: “Austin Trout was good. It was technically good unfortunate he was in a position where he needed to excite us to get a fight with Canelo Alvarez. I don’t think he excited us. Austin Trout is a very good fighter, very hard to hit, good defensive fighter but he won and he didn’t open any eyes. I think because he’s not that well known to the public. He could of been a little more dramatic a little bit more exciting. It’s about business it’s not about boxing. I think that with his defensive abilities he’d be a really hard fight for Canelo, but is the public ready to buy that especially if it’s a pay per view fight. I don’t know that it will be or won’t be and that’s the issue”

    Harold Lederman: “Austin Trout definitely. Gabriel Rosado, I mean he doesn’t even have 20 fights yet (Rosado 20-5-12ko). Gabe Rosado is very very tough. He’s looking awfully good in his recent fights. He’s on the way up and I think he needs one more big fight before he fights Canelo. On the other hand Austin Trout certainly is ready for Canelo. He has that WBA junior middleweight title. I think Austin Trout as a southpaw; I think he’d give Canelo a terrific fight. I think that will be a great fight no doubt about”

    So seems like Austin Trout maybe the best opponent for reasons I understand. Reasons like the business side of the fight and the fact that Trout does not have many knockouts. Also Trout does not bring much to table so it’s easy to come to an agreement with Canelo.

    Now the pressure is on Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to take the boxing public by storm. Canelo has everything in his favor to do so; young, skilled, handsome ticket selling Mexican super star. He just needs to fill those shoes.

    The last name to be mentioned in the Canelo sweepstakes is Victor Ortiz who has been quoted saying “I’m not impressed with Canelo” after the Shane Mosley fight. Ortiz can benefit from a win over the Mexican star. Ortiz hasn’t been embraced by the boxing public having some pretty image damaging moments; like quitting vs. Marcos Maidana and bull ramming Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their fight last September 17th. So winning a fight over the very popular fighter like Canelo can land him in good graces with fans. Ortiz has a fan pleasing style yet the general consensus is that he lacks heart, which he took a step forward in proving in the Berto fight coming off the canvas to win in dominate fashion. He can also be too careful as he proved vs. Lamont Peterson scoring two knockdowns on Peterson but not finishing him off and the fight ending in a draw. Canelo vs. Ortiz is the most likely fight to be made having Ortiz already playing the B side to a massive Pay-per-view vs. Mayweather. With both signed to Golden Boy it would be a win-win for the promotional stable. Ortiz has a task at hand on June 23 when he faces off vs. Josesito Lopez provided he wins (I’m picking him to stop Lopez) and looks good, he win land the lottery ticket that is Mexican Independence Day on 9/15/12.