By Ian S Palmer
Floyd Mayweather Jr. of Grand Rapids, Michigan will be attempting to wrest the WBC Junior Middleweight crown from Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez of Jalisco, Mexico in a battle of undefeated boxers on Saturday September 14 at Las Vegas, Nevada’s MGM Grand Casino. The bout will be fought at a catch weight of 152 lbs and broadcast on pay per view by Showtime in America.
Mayweather, who now resides in Las Vegas, carries a 44-0 record around with him along with 26 Kos while Alvarez will climb through the ring ropes with a mark of 42-0-1 with 30 Kos to his name. The first thing that many boxing fans may notice is that the 23-year-old Alvarez has fought just one less time than the 36-year-old veteran Mayweather. This is because like many Mexican legends before him, Alvarez turned pro at the tender age of 15.
Each boxer has his strengths. Mayweather’s are his speed along with his defensive and all-round boxing skills while Alvarez is known for his aggressiveness, power and body attack. However, Alvarez isn’t too shabby defensively either and can often be seen slipping and sliding away from punches during his bouts. However, he’s going to have to be aggressive against Mayweather and force him to fight all three minutes of every round.
This is going to be hard to do though since Mayweather loves to counterattack with his excellent speed and accuracy. The challenger isn’t really a one-punch knockout artist, but if he times it right he can deck an opponent with a perfectly -placed shot. Alvarez is the naturally bigger man here and may try to outmuscle and bully him. He could also decide to throw caution to the wind and just attack from the opening bell. However, he’s going to have to be smart in the ring too.
Mayweather isn’t the easiest guy to catch clean and Alvarez doesn’t want to be running around the ring after him. Mayweather has a huge ego on him and it’s going to take a lot to beat him since he simply refuses to lose. He should be highly motivated and in excellent shape for this challenge from the younger Mexican. The challenger is one of the most intelligent boxers in history and can adapt to different styles. There will be a few moments where he may seem to be in a spot of bother, but Mayweather usually escapes unscathed.
Alvarez is the one taking a huge leap in class here. His last bout was against Austin Trout back in April and he took Trout’s WBA Jr Middleweight Title by unanimous decision. He’s bound to see some things in this fight from Mayweather that he’s never seen before and it will be interesting to see how he reacts to them.
This will certainly be Alvarez’s toughest opponent to date, at least on paper, but the same thing can’t be said about Mayweather. Nobody really knows how good the champion can be while we all know how great Mayweather has been throughout his career. Alvarez can wear opponents down, but to do so he needs to connect on them round after round and this isn’t likely to happen against Mayweather. He should be able to land some solid shots here and there, but unless they’re absolute single power shots it’s going to be hard to hurt the challenger. Alvarez will have to nail Mayweather consistently to put him away or take a decision and this seems highly unlikely. Look for Pretty Boy Floyd to take this bout by unanimous decision.
