WBA SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT

ROCKY FIELDING knows this is his moment, his shot at the big time.

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez at the temple of boxing, Madison Square Garden. It does not get any better than that.

This is the first bout of Canelo’s incredible £278million five-fight deal. Even though he is stepping up to super middle for the first time he is still the heavy favourite.

But as his promoter Oscar De La Hoya notes this is not a fight without risk. At 6ft 1in tall Fielding has a five-inch advantage in height and reach and can bang with either hand.

If he connects at mid to long range that could be a heap of trouble for Canelo.

Fielding will enter the ring as much as a stone and a half above the 168lb limit. In another era he would have been fighting at light heavyweight.

Against that Canelo is on his way to the hall of fame as a Mexican all-time great.

Whatever you think about the legitimacy of the controversial draw and win verdicts against Gennady Golovkin, both fights against one of the most fearsome middleweights the world has ever known were close.

Canelo has been a pro since he was 15-year-old. He has fought anybody and everybody in his 53-fight professional career, and countless numbers before that in and around the Guadalajara barrio.

Only Floyd Mayweather Jnr has had the better of him, and then only by a majority decision.

Fielding has fought just once outside the UK, and as impressive as he was in taking the WBA World super middleweight title from Tyron Zeuge in Germany, making your debut in the Garden against Canelo is stepping into another dimension.

We don’t know how he will react to the occasion walking into an arena full of Canelo diehards.

He must settle quickly and look to land early. If there is a window of opportunity it is in the first six rounds, especially if Canelo has taken him lightly.

Fielding is rugged with a good jab, a solid dig. If he lands big in those early rounds Canelo will carry the effects of that blow throughout the fight.

It is a tough ask. Triple G is one of the hardest pound-forpound punchers on the planet and he could not budge Canelo.

There is an opportunity in this fight for Fielding, his size gives him that against an opponent who is in unchartered territory.

That said, we are talking Canelo here, a modern-day great, who I expect to finish the job in the ninth or tenth round.