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When it comes to boxing, Canelo Alvarez doesn’t want much.
He turned pro as a teenager, was a champion by 20, and has made more money in nearly 17 years in the ring than legends like Joe Louis, Ray Robinson or Muhammad Ali ever dreamed of.
So it would be natural to think, now 32 years old and with enough money to support several generations, that the Mexican-born pound-for-pound ace would be content to rest on his laurels.
It would also be wrong.
Instead of backing off and riding the mandatory defense train into a lucrative sunset, the undisputed king of super middleweights is leaning into another challenging windmill.
Alvarez will once again put his status as the sport’s highest-profile star on the line this weekend in Las Vegas, where he will take on the familiar Gennadiy Golovkin in the Kazakh’s 168-pound debut.
It’s a Triple-G third round for Alvarez, who began racking up division belts against Callum Smith in December 2020 and finished with KOs of Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant over six months in 2021.
And now the motivation translates into a single word.
Legacy.
“I love boxing. And I want to achieve as much as I can in boxing,” he told Boxing Scene. “The best things: fighting the best, fighting all the champions, different weight classes.
“For me, my legacy is important.”
It always has been, in fact.
He is a product of the mindset forged over a career-long association with trainers Eddy and Chepo Reynoso, who have been around every step of the way on a path that has seen him grow from, literally, a skinny 140 pounds and 15 years. old to the muscular physique he has transformed into at 168 and 175.
He had his 34th pro fight a week shy of his 20th birthday and snatched his first 154-pound belt three fights and eight months later, defeating Matthew Hatton by unanimous decision in March 2011.
And the quest for greatness was officially underway.
“Everything comes from the people around me,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen, but if you work hard, stay in the gym and stay disciplined, things happen.
“Things come together. When you love something, things come together. We never knew this was going to happen and we were going to do this and this and this. But it all comes together.”
That first title fight aired on HBO’s second-tier Boxing After Dark, but the network’s longtime man Jim Lampley got the chance to call several of the evolving phenomenon’s fights on the shows. World Championship Boxing and continues to be impressed by where he came from where he was.
“Much more cosmic and multi-talented than I first imagined,” Lampley told Boxing Scene.
“And the exact same thing can be said in exactly the same terms about Eddy Reynoso. Chicken/egg. Both are as good as they get. Does the naturally born counterpuncher become an indomitable attacker when he wants to be? Less than a dozen in boxing history. A superstar with epic historical impact.”
He unified and defended titles six times over the next few months before making the only mistake of his career, or at least doing the one thing he now says he would change: fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The two met in September 2013 when Alvarez, though a veteran of 43 fights, was still only 23 years old and hadn’t been in as big an event, let alone against an opponent as good as Mayweather, even at 36. He older man puzzled him. in 12 rounds, winning a majority decision that was his only loss for nine years until light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol instructed him again in 12 rounds in May.
His then-promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, told Boxing Scene that he advised Alvarez not to take the Mayweather fight, with Alvarez himself saying the outcome might have been different had it happened later.
“I’m fine with my career. But maybe the fight with Mayweather could have waited a little longer, when I got more experience and more fights on the biggest stages,” he said. “Maybe that one. I think it could have been better for me. But I also learned from that fight. So it’s all at the right time.”
In fact, he was middleweight champion after defeating Miguel Cotto four fights after Mayweather and finally tamed, or at least held off, the boogeyman who was an undefeated Golovkin at the time, going 12 rounds to a draw for split decision in 2017 before exactly returning. 364 days later to win a majority nod.
The aforementioned titles at super middleweight and light heavyweight have followed as part of a post-Golovkin run, in which Alvarez earned five of seven KO wins while fighting foes weighing between 160 and 175 pounds.
He last fought at 160 as he defeated Daniel Jacobs in fight two of the series and a career-high 174 1/2 as he beat Kovalev, who had come in with 29 KOs in 34 wins.
And while Golovkin’s first two fights have been close, Alvarez is a major favorite to cap off the trilogy with oddsmakers at DraftKings, who have him installed as a -550 pick (bet $550 to win $100) while Golovkin is a +380 loser ($100 bet to win $380).
If those numbers hold and he goes 2-0-1 against Golovkin, there will be even more talk of Alvarez’s legacy, specifically where he fits in when it comes to all-time discussions.
But it’s all premature, he said, because there are six or seven years left to build the resume, and he won’t spend a sleepless night thinking about it anyway.
“I don’t care where they put me,” he said.
“I just work hard, fight hard and fight the best. And that’s it.”
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This week’s title fight schedule:
IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles – Las Vegas, Nevada
Canelo Alvarez (champion/No. 1 IWBR) vs. Gennadiy Golovkin (No. 1 WBO/IWBR unranked)
Álvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs): Fourth defense of the WBA/WBC title; Undefeated at 168 pounds (6-0, 4 KOs)
Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs): Twenty-third title fight (20-1-1); Fourth fight above 160 pounds (3-0, 2 KO)
Fitzbitz says: I was downstairs at GGG when he was just an IBO champion and I sure hope he calls for a classic farewell. But I think Canelo is too good at 168. Alvarez at 10 (85/15)
WBC Super Flyweight Title – Las Vegas, Nevada
Jesse Rodriguez (champion/No. 15 IWBR) vs. Israel Gonzalez (No. 11 WBC/Unranked IWBR)
Rodríguez (16-0, 11 KOs): Second title defense; Third fight in Las Vegas (2-0, 2 KOs)
González (28-4-1, 11 KO): Fourth fight for the title (0-3); Fifth fight outside of Mexico (1-2-1, 0 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Gonzalez is a bona fide world-class fighter, but he’s fallen short in every championship bid before this one, and it’s not an easier task here. Rodriguez at 7 (99/1)
Last Week’s Picks: None
2022 team record: 26-12 (68.4 percent)
Overall pick record: 1,235-404 (75.3 percent)
NOTE: Advance fights are only those that involve the full holder of a sanctioning body: non-interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for the WBA “world championships” are only included if there is no “super champion” in the weight class.
Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and has written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @fitzbitz.
