Santos
Saul Alvarez Barragan (born July 18, 1990), best known as Saul “Canelo”
Alvarez. As of December 2018, Alvarez is ranked as the world’s best
active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec, third by The Ring and eighth
by the Boxing Writers Association of America. He is also ranked as
the world’s best active middleweight by BoxRec, and by the Transnational
Boxing Rankings Board.
Alvarez is known as an excellent counterpuncher,
being able to exploit openings in his opponents’ guards while avoiding
punches with head and body movement. He is also known as a formidable
body puncher.
Alvarez vs Cintron
Alvarez defeated Kermit Cintron
in the 5th round by TKO. Alvarez spent the first three rounds feeling
out Cintron, a former Welterweight Champion, before punishing the
Puerto Rican with body shots and straight right hands in the fourth
round. He knocked Cintron down once and had him in trouble at the
end of the round, but Cintron was saved by the bell. In the fifth
round, Cintron came out and caught Alvarez with some combinations,
but Alvarez eventually overpowered him with sever powerful straight
right hands, and the referee stepped in and stopped it. The fight
averaged 1.5 million viewers on HBO: Boxing After Dark.
Alvarez
vs Mosley
Richard Schaefer announced that Alvarez’s next bout on May
5, 2012, on the undercard of Miguel Cotto’s clash with Floyd Mayweather
Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and co-featured, on Cinco De Mayo.
On February 11, Shane Mosley was announced as Alvarez’s next opponent
in May for his WBC light middleweight title. Alvarez defeated Mosley
after 12 rounds via unanimous decision.
Alvarez vs Lopez
Alvarez
was originally set to fight Ring Top 10 super welterweight, and former
welterweight Champion, Paul Williams on September 15, 2012. However,
on May 27, 2012, a motorcycle accident in Georgia paralyed Williams
from the waist down, ending his boxing career. Alvarez’s possible
opponents for his September bout were James Kirkland, Austin Trout,
Delvin Rodriguez and most notably, Victor Ortiz.
Alvarez was
scheduled to defend his title against former welterweight titlist
Victor Ortiz in the main event of a Showtime PPV card dubbed “Knockout
Kings” from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. However, Ortiz was unable
to defeat underdog Josesito Lopez in what was supposed to be a “tune-up”
fight on June 23 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, losing due
to referee stoppage (broken jaw) and canceling his bout with Alvarez
as a result.
Due to the upset, Lopez was instead penciled in
to face Canelo at the MGM Grand on the September 15th date, to challenge
for Sual’s WBC light middleweight title. Alvarez won the fight via
fifth-round technical knockout after dominating Lopez from start to
finish to stay undefeated and increase his record of 41-0. The fight
averaged 1.04 million on Showtime. For the fight, Alvarez earned $2
million and Lopez a smaller amount of $212,500.
Alvarez vs Trout
His
next fight took place on April 20, 2013 at the Alamodome in San Antonio,
Texas against Austin Trout. The fight was supposed to take place during
Cinco de Mayo weekend as the co-main event of the Floyd Mayweather
Jr. bout against Robert Guerrero; however, due to a contract disagreement
between Alvarez and Mayweather regarding their potential fight on
September 14, 2013, Alvarez opted to headline his own card.