Canelo Alvarez

Is Canelo Alvarez truly the P4P King?

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Back in 2013, a 23-year-old Saul “Canelo” Alvarez lost to one of the greatest fighters of all time in Floyd Mayweather. He was outclassed and was eventually titleless. His quest to defeat the king was unsuccessful.

Now, reinventing himself in more ways than one, Alvarez himself has become the king. He proved that this past weekend when he dominated Callum Smith in the Alamodome for the WBA, The Ring, and WBC super-middleweight titles. In fact, it is not hard to say he is the official king of the jungle. There may also not be anyone who could take the throne from him.

The boxing world has a narrative when it comes to who the best fighter is. Some look at skill, opponents, and everything else in between. That is amplified with stars like Canelo. WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade talked down on the level of opponents Canelo has faced. Chris Mannix quickly shot that down. Who had the better point?

Before and after losing to Mayweather, Canelo has been proving his greatness. In the light-middleweight division, he beat stars like Shane Mosley, Josesito Lopez, Lovemore N’dou, and Austin Trout. Moving around the middleweight division, he beat Erislandy Lara, James Kirkland, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Liam Smith, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, all after Mayweather. Even in his two fights with Gennadiy Golovkin, Canelo was able to get big wins, albeit in controversial fashion.

Let’s look at his most recent run, shall we? Canelo won super-middleweight gold against Rocky Fielding, the IBF middleweight title against Daniel Jacobs, and the WBO light heavyweight title against Sergey Kovalev. He has faced and dominated some of the best fighters in his division. Looking at his fight with Smith, Canelo was deceptive and powered down the big man. Smith ended up with a detached triceps in the early rounds, and Canelo marveled at what he did while still providing punishment.

Regarding in-depth stats, the star from Mexico is as consistent as one can get. According to CompuBox, Canelo landed 214 punches against Smith, the most by any opponent against the former champion. BoxStat had Canelo landing 147 punches against Kovalev and 188 against Jacobs. He also landed 203 punches in the first Golovkin fight and 228 in the Chavez fight. His agility and sly fighting style have made him adaptable to any situation.

Manny Pacquiao at one point over the last few years was considered someone who could be crowned the Pound-4-Pound king. There has been an argument for fighters like Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jr, and Naoya Inoue. Inoue, the WBA, IBF, and The Ring bantamweight champion, has cemented himself as a star in his division. His record and the skillset of his opponents are both impressive. Now, however, everything will be kicked into overdrive thanks to his working relationship with Top Rank in the United States. Crawford and Spence are two of the best in the welterweight division, but they must face one another to even be close to coming near Canelo.

Last year, when Canelo was asked about those fighters, including Vasiliy Lomachenko, he felt confident in his status.

“I’ve done better than they (Lomachenko and Crawford) have,” Alvarez told Sports Illustrated. “I’ve done things that are better than they have done in their career … history, your resume, that’s what places you at No. 1. There can’t be anything else. [A fighter] that embraces fights, history, and who you fight, championships — everything.”

Between 160 and 175 pounds, Canelo Alvarez has proven he can beat all those who face him. Now, he has options with Caleb Plant, Andrade, Billy Joe Saunders, and Golovkin for a third time. The way he is going, a win against any of these fighters would surely lock him into one of the best fighters this era has ever seen.

And to those who doubt him? Canelo understands the price of being a star in the sport of champions.

“There’s always going to be that group of people that no matter what you do, no matter how many titles you earn, they’re never gonna care, they’re never gonna like you… I don’t run from nobody,” Alvarez stated after the Smith fight, via The Athletic.

Canelo fights for gold and his legacy. With Eddy Reynoso by his side, we may have only seen just a fraction of what he can do. On top of the mountain, it may be a long time before someone can push Canelo off of it.

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