A native of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, 31-year-old Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has been a boxing champion in four different weight categories, is currently considered the best pound for pound fighter in the world, has enjoyed a multi million exclusive contract with streaming service DAZN, and his fights guarantee a full house in any arena world-wide.
Alvarez, however, has achieved these distinctions without being fluent in English.
“Every fight Alvarez has is great because of his stature as the face of the sport, at least in North America and his position as number one pound for pound,” according to ESPN boxing analyst Dan Rafael.
Canelo has faced the top figures of the sport in recent years: Gennady Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, Julio César Chávez Jr., Sergey Kovalev, Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders, among others. His only setback was against Floyd Mayweather in 2013, when he was still developing as a boxer in a fight that many thought he shouldn’t have taken.
His sponsors have grown alongside his fame. Companies like Hennessy, Everlast, Louis Vuitton, Tecate and Roger Dubois maintain the boxer as a main promotional figure and spokesperson.
“Every fight Alvarez has is great because of his stature as the face of the sport, at least in North America and his position as number one pound for pound,” according to ESPN boxing analyst Dan Rafael.
Alvarez’s career has however, not been without controversy.
Miami-based promotion All Star Boxing, claimed to have Alvarez under contract early in his career before Oscar De La Hoya and his company Golden Boy Promotions made him their main attraction. Years later, in 2020, Álvarez reached a financial agreement with Golden Boy to leave the company at the same time that he broke his agreement with DAZN, which was originally negotiated by De La Hoya.
In 2018, the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended him for six months after testing positive for Clenbuterol in off-prep tests. Alvarez argued that the positive was the result of meat contaminated with the substance, something common in various regions of Mexico.
Many see his draw in the first fight for Golovkin’s World Boxing Council middleweight championship, as what should have been a victory for the former champion, calling Alvarez a protected boxer. Critics of Alvarez also insist that many of his recent opponents have not been the best fighters or were beyond their prime, as was the case with Amir Khan, who moved up two weight classes.
Former world champion Timothy Bradley, now a boxing analyst for ESPN, is another one who claims that Alvarez does not face the top rivals.
“There’s always talk of how these fighters don’t want the fight, or how the money isn’t right or they haven’t fought enough names to be considered for the opportunity, come on,” Bradley told boxingnews24.com. “Stop it. It’s a way to avoid a fighter and a fight you don’t want. ”
Alvarez is scheduled to fight in November in a unification match against Caleb Plant.
