By Rick Reeno
WBC/WBA junior middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (42-0-1, 30KOs) was very excited as he spoke to BoxingScene.com about the finalized deal to face the pound-for-pound king, Floyd "Money" Mayweather (44-0, 26KOs), on September 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
"I feel great emotion. I am very excited. The entire team was excited. At first I didn't believe it when [Golden Boy CEO] Richard [Schaefer] said it was done. But obviously now we got it done and I have a lot of emotion," Canelo told BoxingScene.com.
The fight is taking place at a catch-weight of 152-pounds. Canelo says there will be no problem with the weight. Mayweather has fought at the full junior middleweight limit of 154 on two occasions - with victories over Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto. But Canelo is a physically bigger fighter and rehydrated to over 170-pounds on the night he defeated Austin Trout in April.
"I feel comfortable. I feel good with that weight. Floyd obviously has fought at 154...he fought as high as 154, but for whatever reason they wanted it at that weight. I feel comfortable at that weight. The important thing is that we're both comfortable and the fight is on," Canelo told BoxingScene.com.
Although Mayweather is now 36-years-old, Canelo saw nothing from Mayweather's last performance, on May 4th against Robert Guerrero, to suggest Floyd has lost a step.
"It was the same old Floyd. He did what he had to do to win. Guerrero didn't really put up too much of a fight. he started well in the first two rounds, but after that it was typical Mayweather fight," Canelo said.
The Mexican superstar is very familiar with Mayweather and watched many of his fights. He believes that he found a trend in three encounters where Mayweather had issues - against Jose Luis Castillo, Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto. Canelo feels Mayweather does not respond well to constant pressure from a physically bigger, aggressive fighter.
"That is going to be the key. I think that is going to be the key. I think that you're exactly right [that smart pressure is needed]. But the difference is that I'm a very intelligent fighter, I'm very fast and I think that I'm going to be victorious in that fight," Canelo said.
