MASTER CLASS
Callum Smith lasted the distance against Canelo but was dominated along the way.
said Alvarez. “After I moved up to 160, it was a little bit better, but it was still hard to make 160. And then when I moved up eight pounds to 168, I feel my best – much stronger, much more complete in my body.” The proof is in the results. Excluding the 164-pound catchweight bout with Chavez Jr., Alvarez has made the walk 11 times as a super middleweight, winning each fight, four ending by way of knockout. In addition to his four sanctioning body belts and the Ring title, Alvarez fought opponents that sported an amazing 323-10-2 combined record when they fought him. That’s a 96% winning percentage. And, like Crawford ahead of him, six of those opponents (Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, Caleb Plant, Jaime Munguia, Edgar Berlanga and William Scull) were undefeated when they faced
Alvarez. I asked him if he likes putting that first mark in an opponent’s loss column. “Yeah, I love it,” Alvarez said. “It’s history for my books, beating undefeated fighters and great fighters, and I think I did really well.” That may be an understatement. And given Alvarez’s difficulties making 154 and 160 pounds after a while, you have to wonder if he ever thought that he should have made that move to 168 sooner. “No, I think there are times for doing things, and this was the correct moment to do it,” he said. “I never think, ‘Oh, I should have done this before,’ or this or that. I think everything is in the right time.” In addition to becoming boxing’s biggest star on pay-per-
view, Alvarez has been a staple on the pound-for-pound list, even maintaining the top spot from November 2019 to March 2022, a span of two years and four months. During that time, there were a couple appearances at middleweight and light heavyweight, but he won the Ring Magazine and Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year awards in 2019 and 2021, proving that while his most lucrative PPV fights against Mayweather and Golovkin came south of 168, he’s been in the best form of his career since moving up. At super middleweight, the key word has been “dominance.” Yes, there have been some highlight-reel moments, but for the most part, Alvarez has punished his opponents over the distance and left no doubts about his superiority. “I think that way – that most of the time I need to dominate
them every time I step in the ring, no matter what,” he said. World-class fighters who can take the heat will usually hear the final bell against Alvarez, but those who are a step below that elite level might not last. That was evident in his proper super middleweight debut against Rocky Fielding at Madison Square Garden 10 days before Christmas in 2018. Critics would say it was an early holiday gift for the Mexican, who dropped the Brit three times before finishing him in the third. But when someone is coming off a pair of fights with Golovkin, practically any opponent would be a letdown. Alvarez did what you do with fighters that aren’t on your level, though, and he immediately felt the difference that eight pounds gave him.
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