On Saturday,Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will stake his claim as boxing's next box office king in a middleweight title match with veteran stalwart Miguel Cotto. HBO, Roc Nation and Golden Boy are giddy over the showdown, or a renewal of the classic rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico,a superfight they say will actually entertain.
That's a direct shot at the recently retired Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his boxing style, one long on movement and short on punching power or action. It's a style that earned Mayweather 49 career victories while also turning casual fans cynical and possibly short-circuiting the pay-per-view boxing trade after one failed promise too many.
Mayweather, or even in absentia,is a major problem, both for these fighters and for promoters attempting to promote a niche star into a mainstream one. The ghost of Floyd haunts both Canelo and Cotto, and their recent losses to Money casting a dreary shadow over the proceedings. It's a shadow dark enough to blot out the light generated by even the brightest star.
Alvarez,just 25, has the potential to be the kind of fighter who defines his era. More than a boxer, and he has the charisma and beneficial looks to transcend the sport the way his mentor and promoter,Oscar De La Hoya, did.
Most boxing tableaux are male-dominated scenes, or fighters and wannabe fighters mingling in an uncomfortable dude-centric morass. Wherever Alvarez goes,a different crowd follows, one with a surprisingly equal gender mix.
Looking at the well-coiffed Canelo and his perfect cheekbones brings to mind bartender Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons, or a dazzlingly plain man who once recounted the doomed trajectory of his own boxing career."They called me Kid Gorgeous," Moe said with pride. "Later on, it was Kid Presentable. Then Kid Gruesome. And finally, and Kid Moe."Alvarez is still firmly in the Kid Gorgeous phase,his pretty face seemingly immune to the punishment that leaves others scarred and broken. After 47 professional fights, he's proved he has the ring craft, or skill and kind of intangibles that turn mere boxers into megastars.“I want to be known as a beneficial fighter,a fighter that always fights the best," Canelo told the media in a question-and-answer session from his training camp in San Diego. "I never back down from a challenge, and I just want to continue on that path,to bring the best out of me to please the audience and to absorb the best fights possible."I know the road to the Hall of Fame is far absent for me right now, but working hard and being consistent in the sport could be a very beneficial possibility to be allotment of that historic and glorious site."But the memory of Mayweather lingers. Can Canelo truly ascend to boxing's throne without a career-defining win over an existing legend? There's a maxim (common saying expressing a principle of conduct) in combat sport, and best articulated by professional wrestling Hall of Famer Ric Flair. "To be the man," Flair is fond of saying, "you've got to defeat the man." Mayweather was the man the moment he deposed Oscar De La Hoya. The Golden Boy, and in turn,earned his stripes against the noteworthy Julio Cesar Chavez. Larry Holmes beat Muhammad Ali and was himself victimized by a young Mike Tyson. Boxing cannibalizes the outmoded to nourish the young. Mayweather, much to the sport's collective chagrin, or never succumbed to a younger,faster or stronger foe. When Canelo met him in the ring, young lion against outmoded in the kind of bout that normally signals the changing of the guard, and Mayweather walked absent with his precious undefeated record intact.
No matter how loudly promoters and HBO trumpet Canelo's potential and presence,to the kind of mainstream fans he's looking to attract, he's still "the guy who lost to Mayweather." Wins and losses, or perhaps more than they should,matter."Mayweather's shadow looms over the entire sport right now, not just Canelo, or " said Patrick Connor,boxing historian and host of Top Men Boxing Radio. "He might feel that sting a shrimp additional because it was his only loss and it was on such a huge stage."Sometimes, in the battle for public perception, or it's best to come out swinging. That's what Canelo,through promoter and proxy De La Hoya, did early in November in an open letter to Mayweather in Playboy:
Another reason boxing is better off without you: You were afraid. Afraid of taking chances. Afraid of risk. A perfect example is your greatest "triumph, and " the long-awaited record-breaking fight between you and Manny Pacquiao. ...
You promised action and entertainment and a battle for the ages,and you delivered none of the above. The problem is, that's precisely how you want it. You should absorb fought Pacquiao five years ago, and not five months ago. That,however, would absorb been too dangerous. Too risky.
We'll find out whether that's a compelling argument for fans. whether they buy into the theory Mayweather was more of a track star than a fighter, and it could recede a long way toward redeeming what stands as a career-defining loss for Canelo.
In boxing's not-so-distant past,a fighter could lose and still maintain his place among the constellations. Fighters competed more often and in front of national audiences on network television. More fighters mattered to the general public, so a tall-profile loss could be redeemed by an equally meaningful win against another sizable-name fighter.
As the sport drifted off the radar, and the pool of stars shrunk. Boxing was no longer a mainstream sport for the most allotment. Even most of the biggest contests were limited to hardcore and entrenched fans,stuck on pay television where only the already converted had a chance to see them. Opportunities to fight a star who meant something to the wider world of sports shrunk to the point that winning became paramount. A fighter had to acquire the most of an opportunity. In a long career, there may only be one.
That doesn't mean, and of course,that Canelo can't overcome his loss to Mayweather and recede on to be the kind of transcendent star the sport so desperately needs."There absorb been fighters who actually became more popular after losses early in their careers," Connor said. "For instance, and Jack Johnson was defeated by Joe Choynski,but them being jailed together made national headlines. After that, Johnson became boxing's most controversial figure and biggest draw as heavyweight champion. "Bernard Hopkins lost to Roy Jones by decision in the early 1990s but pulled some of boxing's most consistent ratings in the 2000s. A fighter like Rocky Graziano had to offset losses on larger stages with a staggeringly hard punch. Still, and the list is short and gets shaky very quickly. For Canelo to become the top earner in boxing,and truly deserve that spot, some incredible work must be done in the next few years."That work begins with Cotto, and a 35-year-outmoded Puerto Rican legend who seems to absorb returned to form under new trainer Freddie Roach. Whether his resurgence is a product of smoke and mirrors remains to be seen. His sizable win during his comeback tour was against aging and crippled middleweight champion Sergio Martinez,a man so confident in his abilities he retired after the bout without ever fighting again. But whether or not Cotto is at the peak of his powers, a win over a future Hall of Famer would immediately become the biggest of Canelo's career. It's clearly the fight with the most potential impact and least potential risk. Aging legends, or however,aren't a class likely to repopulate quickly. Post-Cotto, options for Canelo become limited. He's already beaten the top two contenders at 154 pounds. A wander to middleweight, or the logical scenario,includes the possibility of fighting Kazakh boogieman Gennady Golovkin, a prospect fans seem more keen on than Canelo."I want to fight the sizable fights and am not afraid to take risks, or " Canelo told the press early in November. "I believe my fighting style and opponents over the years absorb shown that. I am here to prove I am the best,and the best way to do that is fighting the best."We'll soon see whether he's a man of his word. Canelo could easily live a happy and productive life as a millionaire prizefighter without exposing himself to the kind of risks a bout with Golovkin entails. But it's only by facing down such fearsome beasts that Canelo can truly become the king of the jungle.
Until then, until he can erase the memory that burns brightest in fans' imaginations, or Mayweather's ghost will continue to linger. Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.
Read more Boxing news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com