by Cliff Rold

He’s starting to assemble a resume.

It’s not a great one.  No one is writing his induction speech for Canastota.  However, at only 21 years old, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KO) is starting to mature into his stats.  Saturday, he applied a patient, accurate attack against veteran former Welterweight titlist Kermit Cintron (33-5-1, 28 KO).  In the fourth, his right hand dropped Cintron and started stealing his legs.  It helped ice matters in the fifth.  For a moment in between, Cintron landed a bomb and Canelo took it, even smartly tying up.

The matinee idol is starting to show chops.  Given his rabid fan base and good T.V. ratings, it’s a bonus for the game  

Let’s got to the report cards.

Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Alvarez B; Cintron B/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Alvarez B+; Cintron B+/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Defense – Alvarez C+; Cintron B-/Post: B-; B-
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Alvarez B; Cintron B/Post: B+; B
 
There’s not much more to say on the fight itself than the above.  Alvarez also showed off a solid left hook and his jab is a serious weapon.  The tools are there to compete at a high level in a division rich with parity and poor in terms of super talents.  There isn’t, barring a rise from below, a superstar talent like a Mayweather or Pacquiao to be found.  Should he win his rematch with Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto would have some star shine back. 

Alvarez versus Cotto would be a very good fight.  Speed is going to trouble Alvarez at some point.  All other tools are within his grasp to handle.  Alvarez still needs to work on his head movement because there are big shots sure to be leveled at him.  That’s just going to make it all more fun.

Alvarez can be matched with most anyone in the top ten (save maybe Sergei Dzinziruk whose size and style would neither sell nor make Alvarez look good) and make a good fight.  Within a year, Alvarez-James Kirkland might just be the best action fight money can buy.

Cintron is a different story.  His reactions to power shots this weekend were not good.  Part of that was Alvarez.  Another part might just be getting past the point where his body can really absorb anymore.  He’s lost two out of three this year and just doesn’t look in synch.  Cintron might just need to regroup but, at 32, he may also want to start thinking about the rest of life.

Report Card Picks 2011: 40-14

Ratings Update

With two weeks worth of results to look back on…

Middleweight: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. continues to win but still lacks a win that one could call particularly impressive and his belt, given his level of competition, is as hollow as it comes.  Hey, he’s happy, Uncle Jose at the WBC is happy, and he’s still at #10.

Welterweight: Selcuk Aydin’s second win over Jo Jo Dan was less contentious than the first and he moves up.  Dan slips to give Mike Jones a nudge.

Jr. Lightweight: Some rethinking went on here.  Jorge Solis, who had been #2 for the longest, slips because there just wasn’t any justification for his being that high.  He’d earned it prior to the Gamboa loss and, as that fight was at Featherweight, he wasn’t punished in a shallow field.  130 is getting better and Solis will have his chance to rise with Uchiyama coming at the end of the month.  Adrien Broner moves up with his first belt and has the look of a division leader.  However, the win came against less than stiff competition, no matter what the WBO allowed in their ratings. 

Jr. Featherweight: Jorge Arce exits the ratings upon his return to Bantamweight.  For those who think that means he’s in the top ten a class below…

Bantamweight: …beating Angky Angkotta for a vacant WBO belt doesn’t cut it.  It’s the same Angkotta he beat for a vacant belt at 115, a fighter who the WBO inexplicably had at #4 in one of the game’s best divisions despite having one win against mop up fare since he lost to Arce in early 2010.  Arce is a pleasure to watch most of the time but the win on Saturday was just passing time, and the hollow belt he picked up obscures that.  Arce does not enter the top ten at 118 though he could were he to face a legitimate opponent there and win.  Arce’s only other win at or below 118 in his career was Tomas Rojas in 2007, though a win just over the limit against Cecilio Santos could also be counted. 

The weekend results and more are reflected a page away.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com