By Jake Donovan

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will never be a writer’s dream in terms of producing great quotes, but the 25-year old boxer certainly gets credit for being a live-for-today type of guy.

“Today” for the former super welterweight champ is all about preparing for his November 21 titanic clash with World middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. The two meet at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, with HBO Pay-Per-View to televise the highly anticipated clash, which takes place at a maximum catchweight of 155 lbs.

Because of their fan-friendly styles and the (exhausted storyline of the) Puerto Rico vs. Mexico rivalry, more attention is being paid to this matchup than for any other fight post-May 2. The sport has spent much of the second half of 2015 in recovery mode in the wake of Floyd Mayweather’s 12-round win over Manny Pacquiao, which became the richest event in boxing history, but a dud in the ring.

Ironically, the date was originally to belong to this particular fight, only for Cotto to move in a different direction. Both fighters took on separate showcase fights, with Alvarez knocking out James Kirkland in three rounds this past May, while Cotto obliterated former middleweight champ Daniel Geale in four rounds just one month later.

What happened then – or even how this particular fight came about – matters little to Alvarez. Nor does the boxing superstar from Mexico pay too much attention to the common opponents he and Cotto have faced along the way, or how they’ve fared against such competition.

It says a lot of Alvarez’ disinterest in that statistic since he holds the edge. Both have faced – at separate points in their respective careers – Floyd Mayweather, Austin Trout, Shane Mosley, Alfonso Gomez and Lovemore N’Dou. They each own wins over Mosley, Gomez and N’Dou, with Cotto beating fresher versions of all three, though Alvarez winning by much wider margins over Mosley and N’Dou.

Both lost to Mayweather, while Trout represents the tiebreaker. Cotto dropped a 12-round decision to the then-unbeaten super welterweight champ in his only loss at Madison Square Garden, whereas Alvarez defeated Trout in a matchup of unbeaten titlists just four months later.

In the never-ending search for new storylines for this particular event, a recent suggestion has surfaced that Cotto fared far better versus Mayweather in their May ’12 clash than when Alvarez stepped to the unbeaten pound-for-pound king in September ’13.

Alvarez didn’t seem to care as much as the reporter who posed the scenario during a recent media conference call.

“Styles make fights,” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32KOs) pointed out in response. “Cotto may have done better versus Mayweather; I did better versus Austin Trout. None of it matters.

“All styles are different, and it doesn't at all determine who wins (head-to-head).”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox