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Have you heard the one about the ginger Mexican?
Perhaps not. But give it time. Because in a sport where marketability and fistic ability take equal precedence, Saul Alvarez may just have the perfect blend of both.
You could walk past baby-faced Alvarez on the streets of his Juanacatlan hometown and be forgiven for thinking he was an Irish teenager on a package holiday with his parents. The pale, freckly and boyish features mask the reality of a well-schooled prizefighter on the verge of a world title shot.
Having turned professional at just 15 and overcome the early setback of a draw in his fifth fight - permissible, surely, to slip up before even being legally allowed to drive - Alvarez went about recreating Joe Louis' famed 'Bum of the Month Club' in the modern era, fighting every few weeks and learning on the job.
A few half-decent conquests during this scholarship fed the hype, while victory over a Cotto - Jose Miguel, not his more revered brother Miguel Angel - fuelled the fire. Cotto, after all, is a former two-time world title challenger, albeit a couple of divisions lighter than Alvarez's favoured welterweight.
The Cotto win and victory in his last outing against Luciano Leonel Cuello have propelled Alvarez up the World Boxing Council rankings to a questionable second spot. Indeed, the WBC have hyped him with an alacrity only matched by the organisation's inflated opinion of his compatriot Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Alvarez, at 20, now makes another step up, meeting faded former world welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir. Certainly, Baldomir is on the decline; at 39 years old and with three defeats in his last five, it is a meeting of men on contrasting career arcs. However, it should be noted one of those three Baldomir defeats was against modern nonpareil Floyd Mayweather Jr. Another was to Vernon Forrest, up at light-middleweight.
Alvarez should win. If he does, the bandwagon rolls on and over the following year we'll see just how good he is. If he doesn't, either his time will come again or the bubble will burst. His promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, predictably believes the kid known as 'Canelo' (cinnamon) is the real deal.
Promoting the September 18 Los Angeles clash between Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora, on the undercard of which Alvarez meets Baldomir, the Golden Boy Promotions supremo said: "Saul is a Mexican sensation, filling up arenas and selling out fights. It's a special treat to have a young and up and coming fighter among the greats like Shane, Sergio and Victor Ortiz.
"I walked the streets myself the other day in Mexico where I watched Alvarez fight (Cuello). I was asking people from all walks of life, 'Have you heard of Canelo Alvarez?' and everyone answers with a glowing face 'He's our next promise. He's our next guy'."
De La Hoya has also boldly stated: "There are two boxers who can fill Azteca Stadium (in Mexico City) in the same way as Julio Cesar Chavez (Sr), and they are Alvarez and Chavez Jr - and not necessarily fighting each other.
"I think after a few months we are going to see the changes, and hopefully he adapts well and uses those changes to become the champion of the world. I wish him all the luck in the world. Alvarez is a good fighter.
"We are going to promote him in the United States and Mexico. He still continues to fight in Mexico because we need stars in the Mexican community."
In these modern times when there are hundreds of thousands of 'boxing writers' spouting on message boards and blogs, opinion is unsurprisingly split. Is Alvarez the real deal, with a profile simply enhanced by his image? Or is he a marketing man's meal ticket, promoted and hyped beyond all justifiability?
Promoted by De La Hoya, a man whose image earned him so much more reverence and money than his achievements deserved, the popular and personable Alvarez is sure to make the most of what God has given him.Time will tell whether that is serious boxing pedigree, or simply the ability to wring every peso from what boxing's business types would term a 'Unique Selling Point'.