By Peter Lim
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) felt like he never left his native state of Jalisco, Mexico, when he strode into the press conference to promote his May 9 bout against James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) at Minute Maid Park in Houston. He was swarmed by Spanish media and boisterously greeted by an ocean of Mexican flag-waving fans of all ages donned in Canelo t-shirts and headbands. Houston, after all, is the city with the fourth largest population of Mexican nationals, behind Mexico City, Guadalajara and Los Angeles.
Some of his female fans were unabashedly orgasmic. Between Canelo and Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya, there wasn't a dry panty in the house.
"I feel like I'm home and I'm very comfortable here," Alvarez told The Houston Chronicle.
De La Hoya told the media that the collision course between the educated slugger and take-no-prisoners brawler will undoubtedly lead to an entertaining, fan-friendly encounter. Neither fighter "likes to take a step back" and neither is ever in a bad fight, De La Hoya said.
“He is very strong and very aggressive, but I always train differently for every rival I have and this is no exception,” Alvarez said through translator Eric Gomez. “I’m going to be aggressive and I’m going to attack him but I’m going to be smart doing it. I’m going to win.”
Trainer Anne Wolfe seemed to coax the best out of Kirkland for much of his career but he has replaced her with Bay-Bay McClinton for the Canelo showdown. The last time he sidelined Wolfe he met with disaster, tasting the canvass three times against light-hitting Nobuhiro Ishida en route to an embarassing first-round TKO in 2011. Kirkland blamed the loss to an incompatible new partnership with then-replacement trainer Kenny Adams. With McClinton's team, Kirkland said, he has found the right chemistry and devised tricks up his sleeve that will reveal a whole new dimension to him than the one-track minded kill-or-be-killed banger to which he is perceived by most fans.
“I plan on showing Alvarez something that he hasn’t even seen before,” Kirkland told The Houston Chronicle. “That’s what’s going to happen May 9. I feel like getting back in the ring with a guy like Alvarez is proving something to everybody. It’s saying Kirkland’s not just a fighter. It’s saying Kirkland can do it all. I’m truly a warrior inside and outside the ring.”