Mayweather in for tough time vs hungry Alvarez

SINGAPORE — There was a time when Floyd “Money” Mayweather was routinely knocked for cherry-picking opponents, taking only on challengers that posed little to no threat to his still, as of the moment, undefeated record.

Those days are long gone.

This weekend, Mayweather (44-0, 26 knockouts), puts his entire legacy on the line as he faces his toughest opponent to date in rising star, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 knockouts).

The fight will be held before a sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be for the WBC Light Middleweight title and WBA Super World Light Middleweight title. A contractual catch-weight is set at 152 lbs. (2 lbs. shy of the light middleweight limit of 154).

Recent bouts

Mayweather was last seen giving a boxing lesson to Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, just a few months ago.

The fight was an absolute showcase of Floyd Mayweather’s undeniable talents, albeit his opponent was at a considerable speed disadvantage. Still, Mayweather dazzled with stifling defense and catlike reflexes, combined with accurate punching.

It was a near shutout for the 36 year old, 17-year veteran as he outpointed Guerrero 117-111 across the board to notch the Unanimous Decision victory, making it look easy. Yet Mayweather feels he could have done better.

“I wasn’t impressed with my fight against Robert,” said Mayweather. “It’s probably because I took a year off, but I think I’ll be a lot sharper this fight (against Alvarez) because I got right back into the groove of things.”

For Alvarez, the Mexican had a much tougher challenge before him in his previous outing, though he was still able to dominate his opponent like no one had ever before. Alvarez tested himself against Austin “No Doubt” Trout, so far the biggest name he had faced, and passed with flying colors.

Canelo battered and bewildered Trout with trademark relentless aggression, sending the American down to the canvas in Round 7 en-route to a 12-round Unanimous Decision win. The victory earned Alvarez the WBC and WBA championships and set him up for a huge opportunity against the reigning pound for pound king.

A contrast of styles

For the entirety of his career, Mayweather has been known as a defensive stalwart. He’ll give anyone fits, including Alvarez. On top of that, Mayweather likes to play mind games in and out of the ring. He’ll do what he has to do for an opponent to lose focus mentally – it’s perhaps his greatest asset as a professional prizefighter.

You don’t even need to mention his almost-legendary defensive skill. Mayweather keeps his chin protected at all times, behind those huge shoulders and lightning quick reflexes. Mayweather relies on his speed, not only of his body but of his mind. It is because of this that so many of his opponents have unraveled mid-fight.

Victor Ortiz threw head-butts at him, frustrated with not being able to land a clean hit, and being held, elbowed and pushed around.

“The guy (Ortiz) was missing shots, got frustrated and he head-butted me, knocked a hole in my lip,” said Mayweather. “That got me upset.”

Shane Mosley caught him with a good counter that buckled his knees, but couldn’t follow up with anything notable afterwards.

“No matter what they can do, I can adjust, always,” says Mayweather. “I gave Shane (Mosley) a certain look after he hit me, a look he knew – ‘strong, huh?’ He had hit me, I said, ‘Good shot, comes with the territory.’ I told him, I’m willing to die. Are you?”

Everything that Mayweather does in a fight has purpose, and he plays dirty when he needs to.

Combine that with the fact that it’s next to impossible to land a flush shot on Mayweather with enough mustard on it to do significant damage, and what we have is the alpha male of defensive-minded fighters.

On the other hand, Alvarez is certainly no slouch on offense. Mayweather often claims there is no blueprint to beating him, but anybody who’s watched him through the years knows that he doesn’t like pressure. Jose Luis Castillo, Miguel Cotto and even Oscar Dela Hoya all had their moments against ‘Money’ by simply piling on the punches and cutting off the ring with hard jabs.

Luckily for Alvarez, he does these things extremely well. With youth on his side, Alvarez should be able to keep the pace up all night and be right up in Mayweather’s grill for the most part. At 36 years old, Mayweather is no spring chicken and he has shown a slight chink in the proverbial armor with his advanced age and declining physical abilities.

Still, against his defensive wizardry, clobbering Mayweather often enough with damaging attacks is a tall order for anyone and it will be interesting to see if Canelo can put his punches together and back Mayweather up into a corner where he’s more vulnerable.

Upset in the making

While it’s definitely hard to bet against Mayweather in any fight, the time is now. Saul Alvarez is bigger, stronger and could possibly be just as fast as Mayweather, at least in regards to hand speed.

He’s definitely the underdog, but Alvarez is talented enough to pull off the upset of the decade – so don’t rule out a loss for the brash and long undefeated Grand Rapids native no matter how invincible he may seem.

Just don’t bet your house on it.

Mayweather has absolutely no doubt in his mind that his defensive mastery will carry him to victory.

“I don’t look anywhere in particular when I’m fighting,” said Mayweather. “I scan their (opponents) whole body and in about two rounds, I have them figured out,” he added.

“I think I’m gonna be a lot sharper because I’m active. It’s no different from a guy that’s in a 3-point shooting contest,” said Mayweather, referencing Basketball. “You got a guy who is shooting everyday and a guy who is shooting once a week. The guy who’s shooting everyday is going to be a lot sharper.”

“I feel that staying active, I’m going to be extremely sharp,” he added.

Mayweather is fighting twice in a calendar year for the first time since 2007. His constant activity in the ring has him convinced he’s as sharp as a razor blade. But he definitely has his work cut out for him against the younger, hungrier Alvarez.

On the flipside, Canelo is hell bent on dethroning the king of Boxing.

You can have all the skill in the world, but ask any professional fighter out there and they will tell you that the will to win is a very powerful thing. It could just very well give Alvarez that extra oomph he needs in his punches to aid him on his quest to reach the top of the Boxing food chain.

And, as Juan Manuel Marquez demonstrated last December in his one-punch destruction of Manny Pacquiao, in this sport, anything can happen – a reminder to never forget, that Boxing is the theatre of the unexpected. – Rappler.com