Santos
Saul Alvarez Barragan (born July 18, 1990), commonly known as
"Canelo" Alvarez, is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the current
lineal, The Ring, and WBC middleweight champion, as well as a former
WBC, WBA (Regular), and The Ring light middleweight champion.
Beginnings
In
an interview, Alvarez explained that he was born in the city of Guadalajara,
Jalisco, but his family was at the time living in San Agustin de Tlajomulco
de Zuniga. At the age of five, his family moved to their current home
of Juanacatlan, Jalisco. Growing up on his family's farm, he learned
horseback riding, which he continues today. Alvarez is the youngest
of eight children, seven of them boys; all of his brothers also became
professional boxers. Among his brothers are welterweight boxers Ramon
Alvarez, Ricardo Alvarez and former interim WBA World Champion, Rigoberto
Alvarez.
"Canelo" in Spanish is the masculine word for cinnamon,
which is a common nickname for people with red hair.
Amateur
Career
Alvarez started boxing at 13 years old, after watching his older
brother Rigoberto Alvarez's debut as a professional boxer. In 2004
he won the silver medal at the Junior Mexican National championships,
held in Sinaloa, He became the 2005 Junior Mexican National Boxing
Champion in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, at the age of 15. Canelo has
an amateur record of 44-2.
Professional career
Alvarez turned
professional at 15, shortly after his championship at the Junior Nationals,
because his trainers at the time, father-and-son team Chepo and Eddy
Reynoso, were unable to find suitable junior opponents for him. In
his first 19 months as a professional, he knocked out 11 of his 13
documented opponents, all of whom were significantly older. however,
the elder Reynoso stated in 2013 that Alvarez had fought 10 more times
in that span, winning all 10 by knockout, but that these fights (all
in small venues in the Mexican state of Nayarit) were so poorly documented
that it was not worth the trouble to seek to have the record corrected.
Alvarez' third official bout of his career was a win over the
now current IBF Lightweight Champion, Miguel Vazquez on January 20,
2006, at his home town of Guadalajara, Jalisco. On June 28, 2008,
Alvarez defeated Miguel Vazquez again in a rematch. He also made world
history in that fight card when all of his six brothers fought on
the same night, Canelo being the youngest. The only downside was that
three of them failed to win their pro debuts. The other four more
experienced brothers won. On March 6, 2010, he got a crushing third
round knockout over Brian Camechis in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. Alvarez
defeated Jose Miguel Cotto on May 1, 2010, on the Floyd Mayweather
vs Shane Mosley undercard in the MGM Grand Garden Arena on HBO PPV
to retain his NABF Welterweight title.
Light middleweight
His
sixth round TKO win over Luciano Leonel Cuello for the WBC Silver
Light Middleweight bout was held in the Vicente Fernandez Arena. During
the post fight interview Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez gave Alvarez
a horse. He was also given a horse by the mayor of Tepic, where Alvarez
sometimes trains.