By Rene Umanzor
WBC/WBA junior middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (42-0-1, 30KOs), 22-years-old, feels ready to sit at the top of the boxing mountain. Canelo will defend his belts against the pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26KOs), on September 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mayweather is boxing's king, but now Canelo wants to sit on the throne.
"I'm ready [to sit on the throne]. I feel motivated about this challenge. If I win, I'll be in the position that he has now and I'll have to fight with the best, face opponents who are coming up and build myself over the years as well as he did. The most important thing is to win and that's what will happen," Canelo said.
"It will be a great night for us. People will not believe [the outcome]. We are going to have a good training camp, a good strategy to fight him and win; he is a complicated opponent, but we know how to fight him."
Some experts have stated that Canelo is not ready for an opponent like Mayweather, but the Mexican superstar disagrees.
"I feel very good right now. I'm very happy because it is something that we've expected for years and I think it is happening at the right time and I'm already training, and running and I feel very strong. I know that I can give more of myself [in the future] but these are the fights that are going to make me give my best. The better my opponent, the more motivated it makes me because I want to reach my potential. I'm ready to beat Floyd Mayweather and we are going into the fight with that mentality," Canelo said.
Rene Umanzor covers boxing in Mexico for The Record.