Canelo Alvarez Could Very Well Be Boxing’s Next Big Star
Saturday’s three round demolition of dangerous contender James Kirkland was arguably the young Mexican’s career best performance to date.
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Despite being still only 24 years old, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez now moves to an impressive 45-1-1 (32 KO) which includes some very notable scalps.
Last weekend, his three round beat down of James Kirkland was one of the most entertaining fights of the year in my opinion. It was almost the polar opposite of the weekend before’s ‘Fight of the Century’ between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, more of a chess match suited to the purists like myself.
I enjoy both knockouts and boxing technical brilliance, but there’s something about a good barn burner like last weekend’s bout between Canelo and Kirkland, that really ticks all the boxes for every type of fight fan, an almost primal intrigue.
Some colourful tweets have been doing the rounds over the weekend, making light of the difference between the two fights over the last couple of weeks. Here’s one Canelo re-tweeted:
From start to finish the aggressive, come forward, open style of Kirkland suited Canelo down to the ground, who showed he was more than willing to engage in a brawl.
With Kirkland racing out at Canelo from the opening bell, the Hagler-Hearns’esque type tempo was set. Wild bombs were exchanged on route to Kirkland getting viciously knocked out in the third round, in a fight that saw Canelo land a remarkable 60% of his power shots thrown.
Canelo’s poise and temperament in the face of Kirkland’s early onslaught really impressed me and shows you how mature this guy really is for his young age. He’s almost like an established warrior in his mid thirties with the way he picks his shots at times – a joy to watch.
His punch variation, accuracy, willingness to engage in a toe to toe war, personality, youth and desire to improve, should see this exciting young Mexican warrior become a big star in the sport over the coming years.
I’d love to see him in a middleweight fight down the line with Golovkin. Imagine it, bloody hell.
Canelo is obviously a huge light-middleweight, with Saturday’s fight been at 155 lbs, so a move to middleweight could easily happen in the next year or so one would think.
This would also give GGG more time to build up his name in America to make the potential blood bath showdown more of a pay per view attraction.
Of course, there’s also the potential Puerto Rico vs Mexico fight in Canelo vs Miguel Cotto that could happen potentially. Whatever the case, options are plentiful for this sensational young boxing talent from Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco, Mexico.
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