STILL HUNGRY
BRIT BASHING By Tom Gray
he was saying it about my mom – that kind of ‘motherfucker.’ I misunderstood the word. That made me feel very angry. That’s why I pushed him [at the press conference]. He tried a hook, but I’m too quick. “It got personal, but I really enjoyed it. I think that’s one of my most important fights, because of what I accomplished with him – becoming undisputed. Becoming the first undisputed at 168. It meant a lot to me.” Jaime Munguia (UD 12) May 4, 2024, for undisputed super middleweight championship “When you face a Mexican fighter, it’s different, because egos are there. You can lose with anybody, but not to another Mexican fighter. Jaime did a good job, but I was the better man that night.” MOST SATISFYING? Alvarez has a bushel full of important victories – that tends to happen when you win as many world titles as he has – but which one was the most satisfying? “I have a lot,” he said,
Outside of the aforementioned signature triumphs over Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders, Canelo Alvarez blazed a trail of destruction through six other British opponents in three separate weight classes. Such was the Mexican boxer-puncher’s dominance over fighters from across the pond that many felt he was targeting them deliberately. It remains to be seen if Canelo will add to this list by taking on reigning WBO super middleweight titleholder Hamzah Sheeraz. MATTHEW HATTON (UD 12) MARCH 5, 2011, FOR VACANT WBC JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE
Khan had the style to trouble Canelo early by using long- range sharpshooting and movement. However, when Canelo landed a flush right-hand bomb in Round 6, the challenger went out like a candle in the wind. LIAM SMITH (KO 9) SEPT. 17, 2016, FOR WBO JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE Four years before tangling with Callum Smith at super middleweight, Canelo challenged older brother Liam before a crowd of 51,240 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Smith had success, cutting the challenger with a punch in Round 2 and landing his share of effective power shots. However, the Mexican warrior evened up the cuts in Round 5, decked his man twice and closed out with a brutal left hook to the body. ROCKY FIELDING (TKO 3) DEC. 15, 2018, NON-TITLE BOUT While Fielding held a secondary WBA title at 168 pounds, the priority here was Canelo’s New York debut at the famed Madison Square Garden arena. The Guadalajara native may have been competing at full super middleweight for the first time, but there was a huge gulf in class. The fight lasted less than three rounds, with the Englishman suffering four nasty knockdowns before the massacre came to an end. The decisive blow, again, was a well-placed Canelo left hook to the liver. JOHN RYDER (UD 12) MAY 6, 2023, UNDISPUTED SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP After making history by becoming the first undisputed champion at 168 pounds, Canelo sought out another British challenger for his second defense, which took place at Estadio Akron in his home city of Guadalajara. Four years earlier, Ryder was deemed very unlucky not to win a decision over then-Ring Magazine champion Callum Smith. Against Canelo, he had little to no success, surviving a fifth-round knockdown before succumbing to a heavy points defeat.
Even though the fight was 15 years ago, Canelo still had plenty of star power. This is evidenced by the fact that his first world title bout came against an opponent who had never campaigned in the weight class. Canelo had too much of everything for Hatton, who kept his pride intact by lasting the full 12 rounds, all of which he lost on the three official scorecards. RYAN RHODES (TKO 12) JUNE 18, 2011, FOR WBC JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE
chuckling at the thought. “It’s very difficult to say … but when I beat Golovkin, the second one, because that was a huge win for me and I passed through that fight – that was the fight.” That victory in their heated rematch in 2018, The Ring’s Fight of the Year, not only crowned Canelo as king of the middleweight division, it moved him closer to No. 1 in the pound-for-pound rankings, a distinction he attained in 2019 and held for a few years. SPECIAL WIN Asked if there was any particular victory that was special to him, the one he picked was surprisingly not one of his higher-profile wins. It was actually a bout that took place in June 2009 while he was still cutting his teeth as a professional prizefighter in Mexico. “When I was 18 years old in Cancun, Mexico, with Jeferson Luis Goncalo,” Alvarez said. At the time, Canelo’s record stood at 26-0-1, while Goncalo came in with a mark of 19-3-3. Canelo won by ninth-round knockout.
“Doing all the stuff I did in that fight, it was amazing. It’s one of my favorites. What I did in that fight, it made me feel very comfortable, very confident.” REST AND RECOVERY The upcoming contest versus Mbilli will be the first since Canelo’s defeat at the hands of Terence Crawford last September. The length of this layoff is unusual for Alvarez, but he says it’s much needed. “Sometimes your body needs a little more time. If you think about it, when I turned undisputed [at super middleweight], it was during the pandemic and everything. I was resting for one year. And then I came back very strong. So I think sometimes your body just tells you, ‘Hey, take it easy.’” Twenty years of professional boxing will do that. “I needed elbow surgery and recovery. Then do my other stuff. I think it was a good time for me. Sometimes you need time off, because I was always active. I’ve been a very active fighter because I enjoy boxing, but this time I needed my time off.”
In a homecoming title defense, Canelo opted for a trickier assignment against crafty Sheffield lefty Ryan Rhodes. Unlike Hatton, Rhodes was natural at the weight and had posted notable victories. The southpaw stance turned out to be no issue for the 20-year-old champion, whose ability belied his years. A fourth-round knockdown was heavy, but Rhodes made it to the 12th before being stopped by a sustained volley of Canelo power shots. AMIR KHAN (KO 6) MAY 7, 2016, FOR RING MAGAZINE MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP and WBC TITLE By 2016, Canelo was an established force and a pound-for- pound entrant. When it was officially announced that his next opponent was the much smaller Amir Khan, many fans and insiders recoiled in fear.
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