Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez: The Face of Boxing

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The Face Of Boxing - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.

Would you believe the top pound-for-pound boxer in the sport right now once preferred horse riding to the sport he currently competes in? This is the unlikely story of today's boxing hero - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.

Growing up on a farm in Juanacatlan, boxing was always close to home for Alvarez, as his other brothers had adopted it as their main sport and focus which led to a professional career for them too.

But it was the youngest, and least interested of the siblings who would rise to become the face of the sport today.

Canelo Alvarez's Early Life

Santos Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez was born on 18 July 1990. He was born on the outskirts of Guadalajara, Jalisco, but his family is originally from Los Reyes, Michoacan.

Growing up on his family's farm, he learned horseback riding, which he continues today. He is the youngest of eight children, seven of them are boys, and all of his brothers also became professional boxers.

Among his brothers are welterweight boxers Ramon Alvarez, Ricardo Alvarez, and former WBA interim world champion, Rigoberto Alvarez.

First Step To Boxing

Alvarez started boxing when he was around 13 years old, after watching his older brother Rigoberto debut as a professional boxer.

Only three years after entering through the doors of the Julian Magdalino gym, Alvarez found himself a silver medallist in the 2004 Junior Mexican National Championships. An accomplishment which he rectified to perfection, winning gold in the same competition the following year.

Now at 15 leaving a path of destruction no fellow amateurs dare to walk on, Alvarez faced his next challenge in the sport, the paid ranks.

His amateur record was 44–2 with 12 knockouts.

Professional career

Alvarez turned professional at 15, shortly after his championship at the Junior Nationals, because his trainers at the time, father-and-son team Chepo and Eddy Reynoso, were unable to find suitable junior opponents for him.

The first five years of Canelo's life as a pro was impressive although nothing too surprising for a promising youth who left the amateur level with a 44-2 record.

He won an abundance of minor, regional titles but it was the turning of the new decade that molded the red-haired star we admire so much today.

In his first 19 months as a professional, he knocked out eleven of his 13 documented opponents, all of whom were significantly older.

This means that his actual record is 67–2–2 with 49 knockouts. His weight fluctuated in his three years as a professional including two documented fights within the light welterweight limit of 140 lbs before he settled in the welterweight division at 147 lbs.

Alvarez's third official bout of his career was a win over future IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez on 20 January 2006, in his hometown of Guadalajara, Jalisco.

On 28 June 2008, Alvarez defeated Vazquez again in a rematch. He also made world history on that fight card when he and all six of his brothers fought on the same night, with Canelo being the youngest.

On that remarkable night in Zapopan, Jalisco, Canelo, and his six brothers (Rigoberto, Ramón, Ricardo, Víctor, Gonzalo, and Daniel) all featured on a card that would go down in the boxing record books.

Some of the brothers won on the night, while others lost, but the two that stood out as the best were Rigoberto and Canelo.

It was Rigoberto, 12 years Canelo's elder, who encouraged the now-world champion to don the gloves despite others in his family insisting otherwise. Rigoberto was Canelo's first trainer.

In 2010, Rigoberto became the first titleholder in the family after winning an interim light middleweight belt.

Canelo matched his brother's achievement a year later when he became light middleweight titlist on March 5, 2011, in a victory against Matthew Hatton (at a catch weight of 150lb).

On 6 March 2010, he got a crushing third-round KO over Brian Camechis in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. Alvarez then defeated Jose Cotto on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Shane Mosley to retain his WBC-NABF welterweight title.

Alvarez was in line as the mandatory challenger for the winner of the vacant WBC light middleweight title bout between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito, however, Pacquiao who was the victor, wrote to the WBC stating he had no intention of defending the title and it was declared vacant.

On 5 March 2011, Alvarez defeated European welterweight champion Matthew Hatton via unanimous decision, for the vacant WBC light middleweight belt.

Later, Alvarez successfully defended his newly awarded WBC title against ranked 4 Ring light middleweight and current European light middleweight champion Ryan Rhodes.

He defeated Rhodes via TKO in the twelfth round on 18 June 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

On 17 September 2011, Alvarez successfully defended that same WBC title against The Contender competitor Alfonso Gómez at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, winning via TKO in the sixth round.

This is still the only loss the 30-year-old has faced in 56 fights despite close calls against Erislandy Lara and unified Middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin.

Alvarez took on the latter for a second time after a six-month ban for drug use and edged a majority decision win despite fans still deeming it a controversial result. This win unified him with almost every belt in the Middleweight division.

Since clearing out the division as he did with competition as an amateur, the established champion looked for pastures new which came in the form of the light heavyweight division.

He took on the old but gold WBO champion Sergey Kovalev, beating him respectably through a vicious two-punch combination that knocked out the Russian and saw Alvarez become Boxing's 25th four-weight world champion in which he held three of these division's belts simultaneously.

Due to the WBO's regulations regarding the frequency of a title defense, 'The Face of Boxing' unfortunately had to vacate the Light Heavyweight belt he broke records winning.

The undisputed shot is set up

Undisputed super-middleweight champion Alvarez defends his IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO titles against Briton John Ryder at Guadalajara's Estadio Akron on Saturday, 6th May 2023.