By Oscar Choose
SAUL ‘Canelo’ Alvarez seems to be 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-Cell Enviornment, Las Vegas – as an awesome favorite, hoping to proceed his dominance at 168 lbs.
Nonetheless, ought to he want to elevate his greatness, and probably 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 stated, the pound-for-pound star will undoubtedly have lots to have fun when he does, finally, grasp up the gloves.
Canelo Alvarez’s story to date
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 just below 5 years later, although, when he overcame his first intestine examine, stopping Jose Cotto – brother of Miguel – within the ninth spherical after recovering from a pointy left hook early doorways.
Then, earlier than going through a light model of the as soon as formidable Shane Mosley, Canelo claimed his first world title towards Matthew Hatton, with the great victory initiating a ruthless surge that might 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 choose, whose 114-114 scorecard stays one of many worst in current reminiscence, forgetting her Specsavers appointment that morning.
Regardless, Canelo was ready to answer his first setback with a outstanding diploma of maturity, reinventing his model 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 determination – 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 relatively undesirable status, with a number of followers branding him as a fighter who, as an alternative of taking over all comers, prefers to flesh out his report towards questionable opposition.
This was till he collided with Gennady Golovkin, in fact. 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 along with his opponent’s evasive manoeuvres, made for an much more compelling model matchup than most had anticipated.
Tom Hogan/Hogan Pictures/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 shocked.
For each combatants, then, a rematch was the one choice. 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 stated that section two of his illustrious profession solely began to take form when he employed a singular however efficient tactic towards Callum Smith, bludgeoning the Liverpudlian’s arm along with his battering ram of a proper hand.
It was then just below a 12 months 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, all the things was going in keeping 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 along with his opponent’s elite-level footwork.
Dmitry Bivol assaults Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on the T-Cell Enviornment on Might 7, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada (Ethan Miller/Getty Photographs)
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 essentially the most smart choice.
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 determination victory over John Ryder—extending his report 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 finest days within the sport are dwindling.
