THE BIRTH OF CANELO
“Solo Boxeo” series, which featured two of my favorite boxing commentators, Ricardo Celis and Bernardo Osuna. (No, I don’t speak Spanish, but I always enjoyed their call on fights. Is that weird?) I expected a competitive bout because I was familiar with Alvarez’s opponent, Larry Mosley Jr., a highly touted amateur who never panned out as a pro. At 28, Mosley was considered a failed prospect despite carrying a respectable 15-2-2 (6 KOs) record into the Alvarez bout. Ten years earlier, he had been the No. 1-rated amateur welterweight in the U.S. Top Rank signed him in 2000 but released him by the end of 2005. That was the last year Mosley won a fight, and he was coming off a TKO loss four months prior to facing Alvarez, so most dismissed him as cannon fodder. I didn’t. I witnessed the talented Watts native befuddle world-class pros at the L.A. Boxing Club when he was a teenager. Mosley could box his ass off when motivated (which was seldom). I viewed him as a potential banana peel with his quick hands and slick style and figured the Reynosos might’ve failed to do their homework. Or maybe they had, and they truly believed in their teen sensation. Alvarez, who was announced as 18 years old (minimum age for pros in California) but was really 17, was presented as “Saul Alvarez” on the Solo Boxeo graphics. “Canelo” was only seen on the waistband of his brown trunks and emblazoned on a welcome banner held by an enthusiastic group in red T-shirts. He made those vociferous fans happy, winning a brisk but uneventful 10-round decision by scores of 99- 91, 97-93 and 96-94 (which I agreed with), improving his record to 22-0-1 (15 KOs). I was underwhelmed by both fighters and thought they gave each other too much respect. The first half of the bout was a contest of jabs, but it was Mosley inching forward. Alvarez didn’t land his jab with authority or sit down on any follow-
up punches until the second half of the fight, and while he hit Mosley a lot harder than the American hit him, he inexplicably retreated to the ropes for
overthinking his approach. Maybe I was overthinking and needed to see more of him. First interview, first live fight Alvarez fought seven times in 2009, all in Mexico, all at the welterweight limit, collecting minor belts along the way. His HBO debut came in his second bout of 2010, the first bout of his I covered live. Alvarez, now 19, faced Jose Miguel
answers to English. He was polite and humble but also confident, not just in his ability but in his vision for his future. Alvarez and Golden Boy, who he had recently signed with, were aiming for a world title shot at welterweight or junior middleweight by early 2011. I didn’t give much thought to those plans, because it just seemed like wishful thinking. I wanted insight on his fighting style, so I asked him about his boxing heroes and was pleasantly surprised when he answered “Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard.” MY boxing heroes! I know it’s not a big deal to idolize those two legends, but 99.9999% of the time, young Mexican fighters answer “Julio Cesar Chavez” to that question. I told Alvarez that I expected more from him during the Mosley bout. He wasn’t offended or defensive (another pleasant surprise). He nodded and then matter-of-factly explained that he sets out to “work on different things” during every fight. “All [Mosley] had was his jab and right hand,” Alvarez said. “He didn’t punch hard, so I practiced blocking and countering right hands off the ropes.” He said he only had around 40 amateur bouts and needed to continue his education with his first 20-25 pro fights. “I was still a boy when I turned pro,” Alvarez said. It made sense. He added that 13 bouts from early in his pro career were not included on his official ledger, which stood at 31-0-1 (23 KOs) at the time. Aside from having one loss, Cotto’s record was identical to Alvarez’s, but the 32-year-old veteran’s resume was backed by extensive amateur experience. The older brother of future Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto represented Puerto Rico at the 1996 Olympics. Just before the start of the press conference for the Mayweather-Mosley undercard, Alvarez told me that he would be “too strong” for Jose Cotto and that he was ready to take on Miguel at 147 or 154.
During that presser, Cotto’s emotional young trainer, Joe Santiago, confidently declared that Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez would be fired after his fighter brutally knocked Alvarez out. Gomez laughed at the presser, but he wasn’t laughing midway through the opening round when Alvarez missed with a right cross and got clipped by a sweeping left hook. Alvarez’s body went limp, but he managed to stay on his feet even as he teetered into the ropes. “Welcome, kid, to the big time,” Larry Merchant said during the HBO PPV broadcast. Alvarez understood that you might not always win when you target the top dogs. Cotto did his best to fulfill his trainer’s prophecy, landing four crunching right hands to the jaw as the dazed Alvarez reeled along the ropes. Who knows? Maybe the practice he got in with Mosley helped him survive Cotto’s swarming attack. Alvarez got through the near-disastrous first round and seemed recovered at the start of the second. He scored a technical knockdown 10 seconds before the bell when a counter right uppercut caused Cotto to spin off-balance and touch his gloves to the canvas. Alvarez took control in the third round, staying light on his feet, controlling distance and landing power punches off his jab like his boxing idols. “Too bad he wasn’t gifted with their hand speed,” I jotted down in my notepad. Alvarez elected to box off the ropes for most of Round 6, which he did effectively, but doing so allowed Cotto to outwork him. The tactic drew mixed reactions. The crowd was into it. Press row surmised that the kid was gassed.
The HBO broadcast booth was split. Harold Lederman said Alvarez was the best at fighting off the ropes since Roy Jones Jr. Merchant replied, “I’m not sure it’s the best place for him to be.” Alvarez sporadically stepped on the gas until a series of heavy combinations prompted the referee to save Cotto in Round 9. The consensus among press row was that Alvarez showed heart in surviving adversity but he was lucky he was in with Jose Cotto, a 5-foot-5 former lightweight, and not Miguel Cotto. The audition did not go well. Some thought he was being pushed on the public for the wrong reasons.
portions of the late rounds. I was glad I stayed home.
I admit I was a bit spoiled when it came to Mexican up-and-comers. I witnessed the rise of Marco Antonio Barrera and the Marquez brothers, Juan Manuel and Rafael, at Forum Boxing
“If his hair was black and his skin was brown, would they be making a big deal about him?” questioned MaxBoxing writer Gabriel Montoya. First L.A. appearance Golden Boy and the Reynosos kept Alvarez busy. Two months after Cotto, he knocked out
Luciano Cuello in Guadalajara to set up his second HBO PPV showcase, the co- featured bout to Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora at Staples Center in Los Angeles on September 18. His opponent was another plodding veteran, but this one was a former welterweight champ who had recently taken Vernon Forrest the distance at junior middleweight: Carlos Baldomir. Golden Boy held a public workout at the historic Olvera Street (a popular Mexican marketplace) in downtown L.A. This was my first time seeing Alvarez outside of a gym or arena, and I noted the large number of female fans that came to see him. Some of these women, all of whom I presumed were of Mexican descent, were boxing fans, but most had learned about Alvarez from personality pieces they watched or read in Spanish-language media. They practically swooned at the sight of him. I honestly had no idea women found him attractive. A young PR lady who worked for Golden Boy confirmed his
shows in Inglewood as a ticket-buying fan during the early-to-mid ’90s and from press row as a newbie member of the boxing media later in the decade. That trio was touted as Mexico’s boxing future and they looked the part. Alvarez looked “exotic” outside of the ring but not very special inside it. He didn’t have the volume-punching, pressure-fighting attack of young Barrera or the surgical technique of featherweight Juan Manuel or the explosive power Rafael wielded on his way up the bantamweight ladder. What was Alvarez’s style? I wasn’t sure on first viewing. It looked like he was trying to emulate Mosley’s sneaky jab and upper-body movement during their early rounds. I thought he lacked the confidence to really go after Mosley later in the bout. Maybe Alvarez was
Canelo's stretch of homecoming fights in 2009 included a first-round stoppage of Carlos Herrera.
Cotto in the co-feature to the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Shane Mosley HBO PPV main event on May 1 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The 10-round bout would serve as Alvarez’s audition for future appearances on the subscription cable network. I met and interviewed Alvarez for the first time at a media workout in Los Angeles two weeks prior to the bout. Two things I immediately recall is that Alvarez sparred for the media, which was an old-school Mexican tradition, and he clearly understood my questions but still used Gonzalez to translate his
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