Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will celebrate sixteen years in the pro ranks by the time he enters the ring for his next fight.
Halfway through his already incredible career came his lone defeat. Then 23 years old, Alvarez fell short versus fellow all-time great Floyd Mayweather Jr., dropping a 12-round decision atop a Showtime Pay-Per-View card at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas that served at the time as the highest grossing event in boxing history.
Among the many moments that stood out from that September 2013 night was the disappointment of seeing your opponent’s hand raised in victory.
“I was 23 years old at the time. It was a very big learning experience for my career,” Alvarez noted during a recent segment of “Nightline” on ABC which ran at the end of Hispanic Heritage Month. “I learned something big that night [versus Mayweather], a feeling I never want to experience again—defeat.
“So what do you have to do? You have to keep learning, keep training and keep winning.”
Alvarez (56-1-2, 38KOs) has done just that, going 14-0-1 since coming up short in the WBC/WBA junior middleweight title unification bout. The 31-year-old superstar from Guadalajara has gone on to add titles at middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight while emerging as the sport’s pound-for-pound and box-office king—two roles enjoyed by Mayweather until walking away from the game in 2015 and then for good after a one-fight comeback in 2017.
Next up for Alvarez is a chance to again make history. Already the lone Mexican to ever lay claim to the lineal middleweight champion, he aims to become the first Latino boxer to become undisputed champion in the modern era. That chance comes November 6 at MGM Grand, when Alvarez puts his WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight titles on the live versus IBF super middleweight titlist Caleb Plant (21-0, 12KOs).
The night will mark Alvarez’s 20th career title fight, currently boasting a record of 17-1-1 (10KOs) under such circumstances. He is a considerable favorite over Plant to prevail on November 6, though still the considerably smaller fighter facing a true super middleweight who has never experienced what Alvarez went through eight years ago—that bitter taste of defeat.
“Life isn’t easy. It’s not easy for anyone. But you have to keep moving forward,” notes Alvarez. “You have to keep fighting because in the end, the one who fights, who stands up is the one who makes history.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
