By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez already has made hundreds of millions of dollars and won world titles in three weight classes.
Still just 28, he has been involved in some of the biggest pay-per-view events in boxing history. Along the way, he has become one of the most beloved boxers in Mexico’s rich history in the sport.
Oscar De La Hoya knows, though, that his promotional company’s franchise fighter still has plenty of huge events left in him. Alvarez’s middleweight title unification fight against Daniel Jacobs on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena is just the second of Alvarez’s five-year, 11-bout contract with DAZN that could become worth $365 million.
The length and monetary value of that landmark deal are based to some degree on Alvarez continuing to win. You wouldn’t have known it by watching a relaxed Alvarez this week, but De La Hoya understands from his own experience as a boxing superstar exactly how Alvarez feels.
“If you think about it, he has everything to lose, Canelo, because obviously all eyes are on him and all the pressure’s on him, and everybody wants to fight him,” De La Hoya told a group of reporters at MGM Grand. “But he’s still young. He’s not at the end of his career, so I think this fight here, yeah, there’s a lot to lose. There’s a lot of pressure on him. But he’s a guy who knows how to handle it.”
Alvarez hasn’t lost since Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat him by majority decision in September 2013 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Thereafter, he recorded two narrow wins in extremely competitive fights against Erislandy Lara in July 2014 and Gennady Golovkin last September 15. De La Hoya, who lost controversial decisions to Felix Trinidad and Shane Mosley (twice), is certain Alvarez is good enough and young enough to bounce back if he were to lose to Brooklyn’s Jacobs.
“I always get nervous, you know, and worried,” De La Hoya said. “But as long as it’s a good fight, I’m happy. My mentality has always been, look, the fight fans deserve a great fight. Boxing, in general, the sport, deserves a great fight. That’s the way you keep building the sport, you know? So, I kind of carried that over. As a promoter, I think to myself, ‘Let’s just have a great fight.’ That’s it. Everybody wins. You know, if you lose in a great fight, you don’t really lose, you know? People admire you probably even more because of the way you went out, on your shield, so yeah, it’s a matter of just giving us a great fight. That’s it. We’re all good.”
Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs), the WBA/WBC middleweight champ, is listed as a 4-1 favorite over Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs), who owns the IBF 160-pound crown. DAZN will offer their 12-round bout as the main event of a stream scheduled to start Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
