he was long ago envisioned as the next great champion from his boxing crazed nation canelo alvarez has fulfilled every bit of that promise and more unquestionably pound for pound number one just seems to be getting better and better and i don't think i've ever seen a fighter as good as canelo alvarez up close but canelo alvarez has proven for the last decade that he's willing to take on all comers and has defeated all comers canelo alvarez is obsessed with the sport of boxing he's obsessed with winning he's obsessed with legacy creating history this is a
story every fan of sports should not merely know but savior this is canelo in mexico boxing is a passion woven deeply into the national fabric the popularity of the sport is about pride more than anything else pride in the idea that they are a nation of fighters pride in the history too of the generation of champions that have represented the country mexico it was into that tradition that saul alvarez was born the youngest of eight children in the summer of 1990. every boy in his family dreamed of becoming a professional boxer but the one who
came along last the redhead nicknamed canelo for cinnamon showed the most promises so he was 2005 15 years old the kid turns bro he fights his first 22 fights in mexico you know he was emerging as a star he just was this legend coming out of mexico everybody talking about him a mexican with red hair and who is beating everybody and you know it was like i was being teased like hey like show me the guy show me the guy then when i saw him fight it was very apparent that he had that that talent
which is a god-given talent he had his skills his footwork his speed his combination his selection of shots and then when he smelled blood how he went for the kill i think canelo's maturity as a young fighter is unusual i think canelo has always had this kind of cool calm collected mentality that has made him more focused in the ring than some fighters of his experience fight by fight year by year canelo transformed himself into one of the most talked about prospects in boxing and eventually it felt like every time he entered the ring he
took another step closer to stardom and obviously he built up a pretty big resume quite quickly [Music] the first time he was trotted out in front of a big stage across the border it was 2010. he's only 20 years old but he's had 36 professional fights already canelo turning pro at the young age of 15. carlos baldomir at that time was a former world champion what he hadn't been was knocked out colt you know carlos baldwin he's got one of the biggest chins in all of boxing canelo went out there and the combination of speed
and power he put a beating on carlos baldemir that no fighter had done to him at that point not only does he get the credit for beating baldomir but he does it in a way that no one else had done previously i just remember him walking out of the ring and the reaction from the largely mexican fan base that night and i said to myself that might be a star [Music] it was clear that canelo wanted to do great things he actually believed and some could call it an arrogance some can call it a hubris
that he was destined for great things that he was going to will this to happen [Music] and then he said he's ready for a world title canelo tied that shot perfectly patton never saw it coming that was the first belt he won the wbc belt for a young man relatively unknown at that stage to draw well over 10 000 in anaheim at the honda center to me that was extremely eye-opening in a sense that this is a guy to look out for what did we learn about canelo tonight he's stepping up the competition with veterans
that aren't used to getting stopped and then he tells me he wants to go and fight sugarchain mostly i said sugarchain mostly don't you think you maybe want to wait a few years because mostly still very good he's a hall of famer multiple division world champion i think it's a bit too early mostly he saw that this young kid has no chance against him and what a fight it was [Music] [Applause] that's when everyone started talking about what his ceiling could be were we looking at the next chavez the next de la hoya the next
great mexican fire he has the perfect balance between the sweet science of boxing and devastating knockout punches and the most exciting thing about him is that he has the ability to give you both of those things in one fight he did that against austin trout back when austin trout was an undefeated 154-pounder a southpaw a very very good fighter austin trout was in his run canelo wanted his title he wanted to prove himself against the very best there were points in that fight where alvarez was getting on the ropes and slipping and sliding and dodging
every single punch from trout with his upper body movement and i said to myself he wasn't doing that before there were no better sequences than the one in the later rounds when canelo hit trout which i believe was a straight right hand and trout's legs just went to spaghetti the win over trout gave canelo a second light middleweight world title belt and afterwards the fighter and his father and son training team eddie and chapo renoso determined they were ready to climb to the very top of the boxing mountain [Music] then it finally came they come
to my office again they say richard let's talk about my next fight we want floyd mayweather and i said come on this is not gonna happen floyd mayweather is the pound best fighter in the world you've got to trust me here just wait a little longer no we want floyd mayweather [Music] so floyd mayweather in 2013 was the best fighter pound for pound in boxing he was the biggest star he was the most polarizing personality is [Music] i remember being so excited for the fight having this level of anticipation of was he the guy that
could come in and dethrone floyd all right fans here we go with the main event of the evening it was a bit early for him in his career but he still went and took that fight where we really didn't need to i want you to keep this fight clean at all times i want you to protect yourself at all times and what i say you must obey good luck to both of you touch them up brenda they took the fight because they felt that because of canelo's power and relentlessness eventually they're going to catch mayweather
alvarez certainly the future of boxing but the present it's still floyd mayweather they knew that they're not going to outbox the wizard of boxing they really felt there's going to come a point where they're going to catch him and going to be able to drop him they felt that floyd does make mistakes [Applause] but that night floyd knew what was at stake that he had a young hungry lion in the ring and he did not make any mistakes that night freud was too slick too clever too experienced too seasoned as he was for most people
during his career no one beat floyd was 13 years older he had way more experience in terms of fighting other elite guys and i think you just came away thinking well one day but but not right now mayweather i think sometimes a defeat can go one or two ways you know firstly it can break you and secondly it can make you question you have to wake up and you have to realize how much you want it how much it hurts and you've got to remember that feeling inside to use it to drive you to get
better to improve to keep trying to create legacy so if the loss to mayweather felt like a step backwards initially the truth was it may have been the best possible preparation for the road that still lay ahead oh beautiful left uppercut he just started to tear through the competition there's the left hook the signature mexican punch to the body james kirkland inferior fighter he out pointed miguel cotto i think that's when we saw the rise of canelo started to win world titles and also then defend world titles and also unified titles when you see a
canelo alvarez fight it's an event it's a spectacle to showcase to the world that this guy is the pound for pound number one global star of the sport from england the challenger in 2016 he fought amir khan the british challenger moving up two divisions to challenge him in las vegas amir khan is a beloved british fighter i think the thing about amir khan is that he always had the potential to give opponents real trouble because of his speed normally i can take people off guard you know put him on the back foot or with canelo
he seemed very relaxed and then you just saw him catch him with an incredible knockout punch and he just knocked amir khan out cold [Applause] snaps his head on the canvas you know and you've got the famous image of canelo alvarez kneeling over amir khan you know almost sort of praying to god that it'll be okay you seem much more comfortable with a fighter who comes at you there's a guy ringside watching this fight tonight who comes to attack triple g yeah [Music] you know around 2015 gennady golovkin was the best middleweight in the world
he was a vicious knockout puncher i mean he was blunt force like he became the boogeyman of the 160 pound division canelo has got to move up and wait to face it now that he has all this popularity and he's such a big star do his promoters want to risk his brand by putting him in with golovkin and potentially getting knocked out i think there were genuine questions about whether canelo wanted any part of that [Applause] does that mean that you will fight triple g that night at the t-mobile arena in las vegas one of
the more memorable nights in recent memory uh every single ticket was sold it was a fight that i think every boxing fan across the world was looking forward to and there was a real feeling that this was a genuine 50-50 fight [Applause] [Music] well this was a fight at the time in which you you couldn't get two men together in the ring that would bring more in terms of skill class pedigree and experience they were the very best combined in the world at the time and canelo had a really strong start and it looked as
though that was how the fight was going to go the pattern was set but when two great men are in the ring that's that's often not the case the great fights flow one way and then the other and this was one of those golovkin came back into the fight in the middle rounds canelo had some successes after that so did golovkin and it was it was almost see-saw all the way through canelo finished particularly strongly but there was controversy afterwards around the judging after 12 rounds of boxing a three-way split this is officially a draw
you could say it was close but i thought it was somewhat clear and the consensus was glock and won that fight but at the same time it also set up a really really anticipated rematch the rematch would come almost exactly a year later if more than half his life had been pointing towards the chance to become the best boxer of his generation this was the moment to realize [Music] a [Applause] you go into the fight and you knew from the early rounds on that this was a different fight and canelo standing his ground in the
center of the ring unlike in the first fight when he pretty much went straight on to the ropes even i was like wow i never expected him to do that way he shows to us that you know canelo learned a lot of the first one justice has happened so many times in the contest already canelo just stands his ground and fires back almost immediately i think the second galactic fight was personal i think he wanted not just to win but to savage golovkin it might not have been the smartest performance of all time but it
was one of the bravest performances and i think that was the fight that whatever you think about canelo alvarez you can't do anything but respect him brilliant work from both men here and this is no question about it a better fight than the first one now both of them here looking to secure a famous victory right hand from canelo gets through good work now this is from canelo who really has responded brilliant work by canelo lanza left right then a left uppercut last few seconds over hand right right uppercut lands right on the bell from
golovkin and there is a warm warm embrace at the end of the contest ladies and gentlemen after 12 toe-to-toe rounds of boxing we go to the judge's scorecards your winner by majority decision and new [Music] [Applause] it showed that canelo in winning that second fight was becoming the biggest attraction in world boxing this young man is for real you know this guy's not a celebrity this guy is a fighter and from there the resume has been sensational if you were ever to wonder what's a fighter to do after reaching the absolute peak of his journey
the fact is boxing can always find a way to challenge you in the two and a half years since the win over triple g canelo's moved up to win titles in two more weight classes boldly with a real sense of risk that's one of the things that you do admire about canelo the fact that he is so willing to be fearless and so willing to go in against unbeaten champions first time that he's fighting in a weight class look at this he continues to do so just make this guy miss floyd mayweather style his head
movement and waist movement has been exceptional canelo went up to light heavyweight to take on sergey kovalev the kovalev fight was a great performance because canelo had no business being at 175 pounds [Applause] and then callum smith who was the wba and ring magazine number one super middleweight world champion you know if you think about callum smith you think about a really dangerous left hook but canelo just kept on pounding that left arm and rendered him unable to use it [Applause] that was a run of three fights that was really unique like even if they
were all in the same weight class that would be a hell of a run but it was the fact that he went middleweight light heavyweight up two divisions back down to super middleweight i think it's something that all fighters say that they are willing to do but nobody else is actually doing that this is what makes canelo alvarez so special the fact that he wants to bite off more than he can chew and people still won't give this man credit for it this is a superstar we're witnessing greatness he has fought the tough guys when
nobody want him to fight them you know canelo alvarez wasn't satisfied with just winning belts in four divisions he wants to go out there and he wants to unify at 168 he wants to be the man officially at that weight class it was announced that canelo's next fight will be against billy joe saunders on may 8. saunders owns a piece of 168 pound title canelo has two of them this will be for the unified championship billy joe saunders he's never lost a professional bout and he'd like nothing more than to upset the tale that canelo
alvarez has been writing like joe saunders is the best that the super middleweight division has to offer canelo is walking right into it and this is a great fight this is the toughest fight for canelo alvarez in the super middleweight division by far you know the style of billy joe saunders the confidence of billy joe's song i know you're booing me because um i'll whip your fighters ass but you know that's boxing billy joe saunders does not care about canelo avarice if canelo alvarez picks up another win then you have canelo beating another unbeaten champion
and taking another step closer to being undisputed but if billy joe saunders gets the win then you have billy joe saunders now being the unified champ at 168 and the pound for pound list is totally up for grabs at that point champion against champion in the search for the undisputed titles it's the next step in a journey of a fighter who's really daring to be great you know i don't think alvarez has faced a man with as much art and determination to win as me it's going to be a good fight he's a great champion
but to be honest with you i've come here to take all of these titles and take them by storm the thing with billy joe those southport skills will win him a lot of fights and of course have one of a lot of fights billy joe saunders is somebody who possesses the assets that we've seen fighters cause canelo to struggle with historically [Applause] so he can match the swag of a superstar like canelo sanders is a fighter that nobody's ever going to look good against right the arrogance of those gloves held low he is slippery he's
tricky very good jab he's got very good foot movement he's a southpaw he's very skillful he has the potential to make this a really difficult fight look we've seen billy joe saunders against david lemoon how he annoyed him with the ali shuffle the swinging of the arms and there was the shot i knew it was coming i think that's what billy will try and do try and frustrate canelo try and get him to fight our character try and get him to see that red mist he's the kind of fighter that can do it because he
is fearless he just believes in his mind that he's always believed that he has the style to beat him but he's going to have to produce something from the gods to beat canelo alvarez if you're watching this right now you don't really need me to say it but i will tell you anyway the number one pound for pound fighter in the world is canelo alvarez two of the very best fighters in the world will step into the ring one fighter considered by many to be pound for pound the best in the world his opponent a
two-time world champion considered by many to be the slickest master boxer on the planet today we'll have 70 000 people in the atnt stadium the biggest indoor crowd in us boxing history we're back in business and canelo's leading the way 70 000 people i mean the rasa is out right here mexican flags everywhere the music the banda now it's just time for boxing canelo's leading the way just the sound in this place is absolutely incredible no one has been able to stop billy joe saunders but canelo alvarez and his trainer eddie reynoso think they can
do it it's gonna be an exciting one what happens [Music] he would definitely from the first belt try and annoy a canelo it is for the unified super middleweight championship of the world well here we go saunders has declined this as the modern day david versus goliath for him to dethrone canelo it really would be something ridiculously special i was surprised when eddie reynoso and canelo said that we're gonna take him out in the eighth ninth or ten i never heard canelo use a prediction but they have so much confidence in the work they put
in first punch from canelo is an uppercut each of canelo's last three fights have come exactly 70 days from one another [Applause] plenty of room for billy joe to circle around with his 22-foot ring as he suggested [Applause] a while to figure this guy out look at billy joe saunders he is starting to find his form you know he's letting his hands go in the ring with canelo more than [Applause] very competitive fight [Applause] round eight keep in mind eddie reynoso and canelo for that matter predicted they would stop saunders in [Applause] villagers saunders took
an awkward step back and now he's holding on chris look the the right eye of saunders is smelling up canelo rattle in his troops here at a tnt stadium [Applause] alvarez fan [Applause] [Applause] [Music] we just saw another brilliant performance by the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world i mean it's not official yet but it looks like it's an orbital fracture but in the end he got tucked out by the stronger powerful more experienced king of the division the reality sets in and you watch canelo go to work and you watch him get on his
front foot and start to load the power shots body in the head and you see and hear you can almost feel the shots yourself the devastation of his work and when he puts it together it's hard to pick anybody's beating it really is canelo alvarez will fight absolutely anybody you know right decision to stop the fight yeah i broke the ice okay hey my friend with all my respect i told you easy money it is what it is hey i knew too when the round finished i come to the the corner and i say hey
they don't wanna go anymore because i broke that i saw you because i saw the eyes [Applause] [Music] i honestly believe today nobody can beat canelo alvarez and the guy that he was even five years ago which was an incredibly accomplished fighter is i think much better today in 2021 when you spend so much time between the ropes you just understand what it takes how to improve your defense how to make yourself more difficult to hit hey who's next who's nick i just said i just said that's three now he wants to continuously fight people
that are put in front of him whether that's mandatory challenges whether that's world champions whether that's multi-divisional champions whether that's fighters outside of his weight class so you know the mantra of who's next exists constantly he said it after he beat rocky field and said it after you beat danny jacobs he said it after he beat kovalev he said it after he beat callum smith he said it after he beat yieldry he said it after you beat billy joe saunders who's next canelo is the only one out there for the last decade consistently fighting the
very best consistently going out there and seeking and taking every big challenge until somebody else does that on the level of canelo there is no debate whatsoever over who the number one fighter in the world is i think at this moment time he is the face of boxing in sport true greatness is a tantalizing attribute to glimpse something to be marveled at in wonder even as you watch it get constantly tested by others who strive to take the crown away the beauty of the very best isn't merely how skilled they are it's how much they
savor their gift so goes canelo alvarez the best boxer in the world ready and willing to prove it anew [Music] you
