Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez: The greatest hits

If he never fights David Benavidez, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks undermining among the finest of all legacies. 

Since the age of 15 he has gradually fought his toughest potential opponents, and in the two defeats he has recorded from his 65 professional contests, lost partly because the two fights he agreed to – against Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol – were somewhat ill-advised.

Among those 61 victories, regardless, are some of the most impressive of the modern era. Alvarez has evolved since that first defeat, against Mayweather, and in addition to becoming a more cultured fighter is also responsible for some particularly explosive stoppages. 

BoxingScene, optimistic that the time will come when he will indeed fight Benavidez, recognises that the outcome of so sought-after a match-up could yet do so much to define his rewarding career. The fight against Edgar Berlanga, however, almost certainly will not – as revisiting Alvarez’s finest hours demonstrates…

Gennady Golovkin, September 15, 2018

The majority decision earned in the rematch with Golovkin, Alvarez’s greatest rival, via two scores of 115-113 and another 114-114, represented not only Alvarez’s finest victory, but his finest performance of all. It remains at middleweight where the Mexican was at his most convincing, and in the autumn of 2018 Golovkin was still close to, if not at, his intimidating peak. Equally influential was Alvarez learning from the 12 extremely high-quality rounds they had already shared together, and drawing on the experience – for good or bad – of each of the fights he had previously had to earn a narrow victory he ultimately deserved, regardless of the controversy that was a legacy of their drawn first fight.

Caleb Plant, November 6, 2021

Alvarez was already widely recognised as the world’s finest fighter – in truth, he never was; Vasiliy Lomachenko, then Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk, deserved that status during the years Alvarez was at his peak – when he became the undisputed super-middleweight champion with victory over the then-undefeated Plant. Victory over Callum Smith a year earlier had delivered for Alvarez a win over his biggest threat at 168lbs; Plant succeeded Smith as his most essential opponent, and Alvarez proceeded to excel in stopping him in the 11th round.

Sergey Kovalev, November 2, 2019

Russia’s Kovalev was a fighter in decline, as had most recently been demonstrated by Anthony Yarde, when Alvarez moved up to 175lbs to challenge him for the WBA title. He regardless remained a competent, intelligent boxer, and one with heavy hands, on the night Alvarez – by then leading on all three scorecards – stopped him in the 11th round. If in 2019 Kovalev was a more vulnerable fighter, Alvarez had once made his professional debut at 139lbs; that he lost to Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight in 2022 was a demonstration of not only the fact that the victory over Kovalev had perhaps made Alvarez and his team over confident, but of the extent to which victory over Kovalev three years earlier remains an achievement to be admired.

Jaime Munguia, May 4, 2024

The very best fighters – and Alvarez is one of those – occasionally record victories that have a greater emotional value than their opponent’s record or reputation might otherwise suggest. Alvarez’s fellow Mexican Munguia became his opponent for the occasion of Cinco de Mayo weekend, at a time when there was uncertainty surrounding Alvarez’s career as a consequence of his split from Premier Boxing Champions. After winning an ultimately disappointing fight with Jermell Charlo, Alvarez was under pressure to deliver, and Munguia didn’t represent the profile of fighter capable of satisfying boxing’s unforgivably demanding followers. At a time of increasing tension between Alvarez and Munguia’s co-promoter Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez-Munguia regardless proved a particularly entertaining contest that, as a consequence of having so much appeal to those celebrating Cinco de Mayo, also generated one of the most memorable atmospheres Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena has known. Alvarez emerged a convincing winner, and Munguia, having recovered from a fourth-round knockdown to remain competitive, emerged with his reputation enhanced in defeat.

John Ryder, May 6, 2023

Ryder was underestimated when he was matched with Alvarez for what represented the Mexican’s first fight in his home country for 12 years. At Estadio Akron at altitude in Guadalajara, the city in which Alvarez was born, what unfolded was close to the occasion Alvarez wanted for what might even prove his final fight in the country he has for so long so proudly represented. Ryder suffered a broken nose from which he bled heavily, and was knocked down in the fifth round, yet proceeded to return to his feet and remain defiant and competitive in the face of Alvarez’s determination to stop him. Ryder, who left the best of himself in the ring that night, made it to the final bell, and while he lost via one score of 120-107 and two of 118-109, the images captured of the two blood-stained fighters told the story of one of the most memorable occasions in which both were involved. 

Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr, May 6, 2017

The son of the great Julio Cesar Chavez had long been recognised as one of Alvarez’s greatest rivals. Chavez Jnr, through his association with his revered father, was the young fighter Mexicans were most willing to invest in when Alvarez was seeking to establish himself; inevitably, in the context of the culture of boxing and television executives, the rivalry between TV Azteca, who broadcast Chavez Jnr, and Televisa, where Alvarez could be watched, became a rivalry between the fighters themselves. Twelve years after his professional debut, and aware that his first fight with Golovkin was likely to be next, Alvarez proceeded to win every round on all three judges’ scorecards, suggesting that their rivalry had had little need to exist.

Amir Khan, May 7, 2016

Saul Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin and Amir Khan-Kell Brook were two of the most sought-after fights that could be made in 2016, and yet, equally unexpectedly on both counts, it was Alvarez-Khan and Golovkin-Brook that were delivered. In the build-up to fighting Khan – then at his impressive peak, but a welterweight challenging a middleweight at middleweight – Alvarez was repeatedly asked about Golovkin. He then proceeded to be outboxed by the lightning-quick Khan for the first five rounds before, showing admirable patience, maturity and confidence, picking his moment to throw perhaps the most memorable-and-explosive punch of his career. Khan was taken off his feet and fell so heavily it was immediately obvious the fight was over – and for a period it was difficult not to be concerned for him. Khan, on the receiving end of one of the knockouts of the year, eventually recovered in the ring, at which point his respected trainer Virgil Hunter demanded Alvarez fight Golovkin. A statement, regardless, had been made.

Erislandy Lara, July 12, 2014

Alvarez was rebuilding from his chastening, one-sided defeat by Mayweather, less than 10 months earlier, when he entered the risky fight against the proven, cultured Lara. Since losing for the first time he had stopped Alfredo Angulo, but Lara represented a significantly greater test, and Alvarez demonstrated the first true signs of his evolution as a fighter as a consequence of the lessons learned from fighting Mayweather to win a difficult fight via scores of 117-111, 115-113 and 113-115. There were some objections to the scores, but BoxingScene considered Alvarez a deserved winner – albeit not by a score as wide as 117-111 – and in the same way he learned from Mayweather, he showed that he learned from sharing the ring with Lara and consistently continued to improve.

Miguel Cotto, November 21, 2015

The great Cotto was nearing the end of his decorated career and, fighting at middleweight, in two weight divisions above that in which he was at his very best. He was regardless considered capable of providing Alvarez with a significant test in one of the most appealing fights of 2015, and yet, having been competitive against Mayweather in 2012 and Manny Pacquiao in 2009 on the night Pacquiao was at his very peak, he fell to his most one-sided of six defeats. Alvarez, in winning via scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 119-109, consistently hurt Cotto to provide the latest and most convincing demonstration of his maturity, making a contest between he and Golovkin one of the most essential of all.

Gennady Golovkin, September 17, 2022

The prospect of the anticipated, and overdue, third fight between Alvarez and Golovkin had cast a shadow over Alvarez’s fight, earlier in 2022, with Bivol. If Alvarez appeared under-prepared that night for the Russian, it may even be partly because of the distraction that that prospect provided. There also existed the sense that Alvarez required a convincing victory over Golovkin to finally dispel the controversy that existed from their first fight, which was scored a draw, and their rematch, when he was awarded a narrow victory. Golovkin was considerably past his best by the time of their third contest, and at super middleweight fighting on terms that were considerably more favourable to Alvarez, who since their second fight had become established as the world’s leading and highest-profile fighter. For the only time in his fine career, Golovkin didn’t appear to fight to win. Alvarez, therefore inevitably, earned a one-sided victory, which the scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 didn’t truly reflect. It was an important evening for the Mexican – the rivalry with Golovkin was finally ended at a time when he was nursing an injury, and he had responded to the defeat by Bivol to set up further big fights.