CANELO Alvarez was just Saul Alvarez back then, a red-haired 15-year-old who wanted nothing more than to make some money boxing.
He got his chance on a summer night in 2005 in a suburb of Guadalajara, Mexico, where he grew up. His opponent was another teenager named Abraham Gonzalez, but he could have been anyone.
Alvarez showed some potential by stopping Gonzalez in the fourth round. Afterward he collected his first real payday.
A dozen years later, the pay has gotten a lot better. On Saturday night (Sunday AEST), Alvarez will make millions as he meets knockout specialist Gennady Golovkin in a middleweight showdown that boxing purists are comparing to some of the division’s great fights of years past.
He will reportedly earn a $15 million purse, which could soar to more than $35 million total earnings once pay-per-view money comes rolling in.
Some 40 million of his countrymen are expected to be watching on television as the fighter who is arguably Mexico’s biggest sports hero takes on the fearsome Golovkin in a fight that could define the career of both fighters. The fight will be televised on HBO pay-per-view in the US.
It won’t be a fight for the faint of heart. Golovkin had a 23-fight knockout streak before going the distance in his last fight, while Alvarez is a masterful counterpuncher who is not afraid to mix it up.
Between them they have only one loss in 88 fights. Alvarez suffered it in 2013 against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a fight he admitted he took too early in his career.
By contrast, he may have waited until just the right time to fight Golovkin. Alvarez and his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, were widely criticised for avoiding Golovkin for the last two years, but now Alvarez has grown into a full-fledged middleweight and both fighters seem to be in their prime.
There shouldn’t be many surprises. And there will certainly be no excuses.
