By Jared Lopez
Over the past couple years, we have been hearing how good the young Mexican boxer Saul “El Canelo” Alvarez is. We’ve heard nothing but praise from commentators like Jim Lampley, Max Keller man and recently by Al Bernstein, but is he really that good as they say?
In my opinion, he’s one of the biggest hype jobs in the last decade of boxing. My reason for believing this is that his record consists of 40 fights and 29 Ko’s. The record itself sounds impressive but if you really take a deep look at it, you will see that he’s faced nothing but low quality fighters. The biggest name he’s face has been Shane Mosley, but at the end of his career when Mosley was no longer a threat.
He’s been rocked a couple times before as well. Miguel Cotto’s older brother, Jose Miguel Cotto rocked him and he was nothing more than a junior welterweight. He had trouble with Alfonso Gomez , yet all you hear is hype in his favor.
As you all know, Canelo was left without an opponent due to Victor Ortiz being TKO by Josesito Lopez . To the fans and some media, the right move was to secure a fight with a solid fighter preferably, with a big name like Miguel Cotto that fell thru because Cotto is on vacation and doesn’t want to come back until December of this year.
One name that was thrown around in the Canelo Sweepstakes has been Marcos Maidana which ended being all hype from Maidana. Another name that was thrown was Carlos Quintana. Quintana looked good in his last fight knocking out Deandre Lattimore. There is also K9 Bundrage, who he just won his fight against Corey Spinks , and was left unharmed and ready for the 9/15 date set By Golden Boy Promotions. For the more knowledgeable boxing fan, there was Erislandy Lara which many experts considered to be the most dangerous for the young Mexican.
Well, Golden Boy threw a monkey wrench last night and chose Josesito Lopez to be Canelo’s opponent for September 15th. While I admire and appreciate Lopez getting the fight because he deserves it just off the strength of his upset of Victor Ortiz. What kind of test will Lopez really provide for Canelo? He is moving up 14 lbs from his natural weight class to fight what most people consider a top 3 Jr. Middleweight. Canelo will most likely have every advantage in the ring that night except for maybe heart. So you can add another smaller guy to the resume of Canelo. I know Lopez deserves a pay day but how the WBC can approve Lopez but declined Austin Trout? I know Canelo is only 21 but he has a title. It’s time for Canelo to start defending it against people his own size and people with the same skill level. Chavez has even stepped up to fight Martinez on the same day. If you guys keep drinking the kool-aid, Canelo and Golden Boy will keep getting away with it. Or maybe, just maybe, Lopez can end the hype train that is Canelo.
