Saul Alvarez - All Style No Substance
 By Robert Brown, Doghouse Boxing (Nov 13, 2012) Doghouse Boxing (Photo © German Villasenor)
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Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez is one of the fastest growing stars in the sport
today with his crowd pleasing style, his likable personality and Mexican
heritage, all combined give him the opportunity to become a phenomenon
like a Manny Pacquiao or a Floyd Mayweather Jr, however there is just
one problem... If Alvarez wants to become an all-time great and put
himself up for hall of fame selection, he must fight world class
contenders instead of fighting old legends like Shane Mosley, who with
all due respect was heading for his boxing pension and in my opinion he
only took the fight to add to his pension fund and was therefore half
way out the door in retirement. The rest of Canelo's record is made up
of high level European fighters such as Ryan Rhodes and Matthew Hatton
and blown up 140 pounders like Josesito Lopez.
Yes, Lopez beat Victor Ortiz but Ortiz was ahead on the score cards and
yes Ortiz had his jaw broken, but let’s face it Ortiz quit on his stool
and no knowledgeable boxing fan thought that Lopez would be a serious
threat against Alvarez and as it turned out Lopez put in a spirited
effort but was systematically broken down. Just in case you haven’t
caught the theme of my article yet, my point is that in 42 fights
Alvarez has not fought a world class fighter or contender that has the
attributes to seriously challenge him for his title. I realize that
Alvarez was set to face a world class fighter in Paul Williams and that
fight had to be cancelled because of the tragic motor bike accident
which ended his career, although on paper Williams would have been a
serious challenge his last, 2 fights against Lara and Ishida had proven
Williams’s best days were behind him and I believe it would have been an
easy victory for Alvarez.
Alvarez needs to fight a Cornelius Bundrage who holds the IBF belt and I
believe Alvarez is by far a technically superior fighter and would
easily dispose of Bundrage. "K9" Bundrage’s punches are way too wide, he
is clumsy, constantly falling in after throwing the left and is open
for straight right hands and uppercuts and also doesn’t really have the
jab to stop Alvarez.
Critics might say there is no money in that fight but "K9" has a lot of
fans and a crowd pleasing knockout style, this fight could be easily
marketed and make some decent money and Alvarez would secure himself
another portion of the 154lb belt and set up some bigger fights down the
line, he could also face the winner of a Cotto vs Trout. However if it
is Cotto, I don’t think they will match him up with someone of Cotto’s
experience and skill level just yet, but if Trout wins and keeps his
belt I can see Alvarez fighting Trout, because also Trout has good
boxing skills, foot movement and speed he doesn’t have the power to
really hurt Alvarez.
His Mexican counterpart Chavez was copping similar criticism, however
since then he has fought Andy Lee, who was the number one 160lb
contender at the time and then fought Martinez, who is considered the
best 160 pounder in the sport and although being badly beaten for most
of the fight Chavez nearly knocked Martinez out in the 12 round and if
it was an old fashioned 15 rounder Chavez would have won the fight. So
when you stack the two records up Alvarez has escaped criticism in
comparison to what Chavez was receiving even though Chavez has clearly
proven more up to this point.
The bottom line is unless Alvarez starts to fight some serious
challenges to his crown, he will remain just like his nick name
“Cinnamon” part of a desert menu and a side dish, in serious boxing fans
minds never become part of the main menu otherwise he will remain all
style but no substance…
E-mail questions and comments to Robert at: robbybrown82@hotmail.com
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