By Miguel Rivera
At 28-years-old, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is very much in the prime of his career.
On Saturday night, he will collide in what could be his toughest fight against Daniel Jacobs - with the World Boxing Council, the World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation middleweight titles at stake.
"At his age, many boxers barely aspire to world championships or are just getting to the big fights, but Saul has already won everything," said Eddy Reynoso, the coach of the Mexican champion, to ESPN Deportes. "He still has a lot to grow, physically and boxistically."
Reynoso says the confidence level of Canelo has grown by leaps and bounds after the two fights against Gennady Golovkin, in September of 2017 and September of 2018.
The first bout ended in a controversial draw, with Canelo winning the second bout with a close majority decision.
"When you beat a boxer of Gennady Golovkin's caliber, you gain confidence in the things you're doing," Reynoso said.
"Against Golovkin he fought in two different ways, in the first one we relied on the counter attacks and in the rematch we relied on waist movements and trying to push back the opponent, and he was successful with both."
The coach said that Canelo continues to increase his self-confidence, but more importantly he continues to evolve as a fighter in every fight, even from training.
The same was considered by his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions.
"In the last four or five fights, Saul has made a lot of progress in his technique and his defense," De La Hoya said. "You have to see the way he moves, cuts off the ring, distance, rope management, in everything he is a better boxer."
Jose "Chepo" Reynoso, manager and co-trainer of Canelo, anticipates that on Saturday we will all see the great preparation he had done against Jacobs (35-2-0, 29 KO's).
"We have confidence in getting the win based on the work that we have done in the gym," he said. "It was more than 120 rounds of sparring."
