By: Sean Crose
There once was a time when a Canelo Alvarez fight would be enormous news. And while Canelo fights remain big news it’s clear that Canelo is not the attention magnet that he used to be. One gets the feeling this bothers Canelo not in the least, for he’s never been about the publicity. It’s worth noting that times have changed, though. Once the face of boxing, Canelo is now largely viewed as a man heading towards retirement… and a well deserved one at that. Here is a man who has faced a whose who of great opposition – and who has generally emerged victorious.
Floyd Mayweather, Terence Crawford, Miguel Cotto, Servey Kovalev and seemingly countless others have faced Canelo. The guy’s no doubt made a fortune, but he’s earned every dollar he’s made. In a time where top fighters won’t even square off, it’s nice to look back at Canelo’s career and see what can be done. However, there’s no denying things have changed. Canelo lost his last fight a year ago against the legendary Terence Crawford. The fact that he hasn’t been back in the ring since is something of an oddity. When has Canelo gone over a year without stepping in the ring?
And when has he faced a fighter with as little name recognition as Christian MBilli? While it’s true MBilli is a talented fighter, a man who can move forward and effectively break his opponent down, he’s certainly not a man with the rain recognition of a Cotto or even Dimitri Bivol. On top of that the men will be fighting this Saturday in Saudi Arabia which is under threat of attack. And if that weren’t enough it will be aired live in the United States on a college football Saturday afternoon. Indeed this one is a puzzler.
Still Canelo has appeared as focused as usual as is to be expected from one of the sport’s consummate professionals. It’s worth noting however that Canelo’s opponent is no slouch himself. “I’m ready to shock the world, and that’s it,” Mbilli stated (via Yahoo). “I have a big respect for Canelo for all his career, and I want to congratulate him for this. But on Saturday, will be a different story, and I’m coming for the win.” The truth is MBilli may indeed win the fight. Canelo of course is older though by no means old and has faced endless amounts of tough opposition. On top of all that MBilli is good at what he does.
Not that Canelo is winding up his career in a vacuum of confidence. “I’m ready for Saturday,” he said “I’m the challenger now, but guess what? Always in my mind, I’m the champion, since I was a little kid. So please tune in Saturday night because it’s gonna be a special night: Mexico contra el mundo.”
Canelo made an interesting point. He’s the challenger this time around. It’s MBilli’s WBC super middleweight championship Canelo has his sights on. Canelo used to rule the super middleweight division supreme. Those days are over however.. at least they are for now. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Canelo looks fresh and better than he has in years when he faces MBilli on Saturday. That might be a surprise but many would find it to be a pleasant surprise at that. Canelo certainly knows how to win on the biggest of stages. Has he been on those stages for too long a period of time however? That’s a question that will likely be answered on Saturday.
Another question that will be answered is how much interest will this fight generate?
