HE'S GOT NEXT Canelo ready to take mantle as king of boxing
LAS VEGAS — Gennady Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez has long bragged that his boxer from Kazakhstan fights in a “Mexican style” manner, meaning he aggressively looks to dominate his opponent, isn’t afraid to take a punch to deliver a punch and wants to finish with a knockout.
Imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery, but Saul “Canelo” Alvarez isn’t impressed with Golovkin claiming to be a Mexican-style fighter.
“There is no one pattern of Mexican style,” Alvarez said this week through an interpreter. “A Mexican fighter doesn’t fight just one way. Salvador Sanchez and Julio Cesar Chavez didn’t all fight the same. Mexican style doesn’t win fights. Mexicans win fights.”
If Alvarez speaks for a boxing nation, it’s because he can. The lineage of great Mexican boxing champions has led to a throne now held by the cinnamon-haired champion from Guadalajara, who is looking to stamp himself as the current king of boxing. He’ll earn that title Saturday night if he can defeat undefeated Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) when they meet for the middleweight championship at T-Mobile Arena (HBO, PPV, $69.95, 8 p.m. ET).
Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) is just 27. It only seems like he has been boxing forever. The youngest of eight children started boxing when he was 11 and by age 13 he was being driven 30 miles away from his home to work with Chepo and Eddy Reynoso, the father-andson team that has molded Alvarez into Mexico’s latest boxing legend.
It was the Reynosos who gave Saul the nickname “Canelito” because of the color of his hair and launched his pro career at age 15. In 2010, Golden Boy Promotions signed Alvarez after watching him fight on two of their cards in Mexico. He was 19 years old with a 30-0-1 record with 22 KOs and 10 other fights that weren’t accounted for.
“We’re going to do everything we can to help him become a champion and a star in the United States,” Golden Boy presi-
dent Oscar De La Hoya said at the time.
Alvarez became the WBC 154-pound champion in July 2010 and reached the pound-for-pound list by beating Shane Mosley in 2012. On Sept. 14, 2013, he faced Floyd Mayweather. It was a fight that earned him the biggest purse of his career, an estimated $5 million. But Mayweather had too much experience and skill for the 23-year-old Alvarez, who lost a 12-round decision.
“I was too young and definitely it showed,” Alvarez said. “But I learned a lot from that fight. I don’t take it as a defeat. I take it as an experience. I learned a lot from that fight.”
He hasn’t lost since, surviving a split decision against Erislandy Lara in 2014 and claiming the WBC middleweight championship with a decision over Miguel Cotto in November 2015. With Mayweather in retirement and boxing looking for a new star, Alvarez stepped in the spotlight, knocking out Amir Khan and Liam Smith in back-toback fights before dominating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in May, a pay-per-view fight that attracted more than 1 million buys.
At age 27, he is in his prime — strong, fast, skilled and experienced.
“I believe I’m still learning and I can learn more,” Alvarez said. “I’m at a good point in my career, but definitely I’m still growing.”
Through it all, he has remained loyal to De La Hoya. Alvarez signed a contract extension in 2015 when the Los Angelesbased promotional company was in the midst of a transition. CEO Richard Schaefer had resigned in 2014 after a falling out with De La Hoya. Seen largely as a figurehead, De La Hoya took control of the company amid his own battles with alcohol and substance abuse. After much of the Golden Boy stable, including top talent such as Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Deontay Wilder and Marcos Maidana ended up with Al Haymon Boxing, Alvarez became the face of Golden Boy Promotions.
“We’ve had a very good relationship,” Alvarez said of De La Hoya and Golden Boy. “They’ve done their part tremendously well and we’ve done our part. There’s a great relation- ship. We’re all very happy.”
De La Hoya was blamed for Saturday’s fight with Golovkin not taking place sooner. Alvarez gave up the WBC middleweight belt last year after failing to agree to fight Golovkin, who had already been sidestepped by previous champions Sergio Martinez and Cotto.
Now Alvarez sounds like he can’t wait to get into the ring with Golovkin, calling it a can’t-miss fight.
“He has a very aggressive style and he comes in to destroy,” Alvarez said. “He comes in search of the knockout. I don’t back down. I’m a counterpuncher, and I like to fight. It has all the ingredients to be one of the best fights ever.”