By Rick Reeno
Former champion Abner Mares was ringside on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and he was very surprised with the fight strategy of WBC/WBA 154-pound champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (42-1-1, 30KOs), who dropped a one-sided twelve round decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mares expected Canelo to apply the same kind of pressure that Miguel Cotto used against Mayweather in May 2012. Instead, Canelo tried to outbox the man regarded as the best boxer in the world.
"That's what I saw [Canelo was trying to outbox Mayweather]. He was trying to outbox Mayweather. You can't outbox a boxer, especially one like Mayweather. To me he didn't do any adjustments.....and if anything he made the wrong ones - like going forward without the jab, he forgot about the jab. He wasn't throwing enough combinations or putting in work or testing Mayweather in any sense. Canelo didn't give him any kind of fight or give the kind of pressure, like Cotto, to even see if Mayweather would tire out in the later rounds," Mares told BoxingScene.com.
