By Luis Sandoval
Much criticism has been said of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s choice in opponent for his September 15th fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV as he will take on Josesito Lopez. Lopez who less than a year ago was campaigning at the 140 pound division, got the biggest victory of his career as he upset Victor Ortiz this past June and in turn ruined plans for a planned Ortiz and Alvarez fight.
While Lopez definitely showed heart and determination in his fight with Ortiz, many still think he will be too small for Alvarez. People have voiced their opinions but when Alvarez spoke with BoxingScene exclusively, he made it clear the choice in opponent wasn’t his fault.
Lost in the criticism of Lopez maybe being too small is the fact that Alvarez indeed did try to secure three tough fights before settling on Lopez.
“I’m not at fault. It’s not my fault that for this or that reason the fights weren’t made. My first attempt was Paul Williams. Second was [James] Kirkland and third Victor Ortiz. And now at the end it’s Josesito Lopez. So that’s really not my fault” said the WBC Junior Middleweight champion.
Alvarez and his team are no strangers to the criticism and his trainer Jose “Chepo” Reynoso actually takes it in stride and even sees a positive in all of it.
“I think poison that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” said Chepo in response to if the criticism bothers them. “The criticism makes us stronger because in maybe 100 criticisms we’ll see one and we say ‘oh, we forgot about that’”.
“The people do help you. They help you with their criticisms. We worry about attending the criticisms and what’s good, we accept it. And what’s bad, we disregard but we don’t deem it unimportant”.
With so much being made of Lopez’s size disadvantage, Alvarez doesn’t focus on that but rather on preparing 100% and not underestimating his opponent.
“The difference will obviously be that in the ring the best fighter will win. I will prepare 100% to give the best of me as always and be better. People saying he’s too small, they will always talk. Many fighters have come up in weight. Like Juan Manuel Marquez is a Lightweight and went to Welterweight to fight Mayweather. A lot of fighters have done it” explained Canelo.
You can get an inside look at Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s training and his 1 on 1 interview by clicking here: https://www.boxingscene.com/video-canelo-training-lopez-bout-plus-interview--56425
You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter @Truewest007. You can also tune in to The Boxing Lab, Boxingscene’s official audio show every Tuesday from 6-8PM PST with hosts Ernest Gabion, Luis Sandoval, and Ryan Burton.
