For years, boxing promoters have made a big deal about promoting fighter’s first bout after a loss as their “comeback” fight. It always seemed a little over-the-top considering boxing promoters also loved to promote other types of “comeback” fights… Mike Tyson’s “comeback” from jail, “Sugar” Ray Leonard’s “comeback”(s) from retirement, etc. The general gist of the promotion of the “comeback” fight for a fighter coming off of a loss, especially if it is their first loss, is answering questions such as “how will they respond to no longer being undefeated,” “will the fighter’s confidence still be the same,” “will the fighter employ a different style,” “how will the fighter adjust now that there is a blueprint to defeating him,” “is the fighter in the right weight class” and “will the fighter’s fan base continue to support him after the loss.”
The promotion for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’ (42-1-1) “comeback” fight against Alfredo Angulo (22-3) this Saturday night on Showtime Pay Per View from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada is thankfully not being promoted as such. Indeed, many of the questions applicable to a “comeback” fight are not really applicable to Canelo.
This is solely because of the nature of Canelo’s first defeat… a decision loss to Floyd Mayweather in September. Many will say that despite what the scorecards read (a majority decision for Mayweather because now former judge C.J. Ross inexplicably scored the bout a draw), Canelo was not competitive and Mayweather boxed circles around him. As this is what clearly happened, those same people may argue that such a loss could drastically effect Canelo. Hogwash. If anything, the Mayweather fight was a complete anamoly brought on by Canelo’s massive popularity and the chance to make buckets full of money. No one should really buy into the defeat effecting Canelo mentally for the simple reason that what else was supposed to happen in the fight. Few really gave Canelo, a 23 year old fighter with virtually no amateur boxing background, a chance against the Olympic Bronze-medalist, pound for pound king, five division titlist, future hall of famer and possible all-time great known as “Money.” The fact that “Canelo” gave it his all, performed in a non-embarrassing fashion and, most importantly, did not take a bad beating, means that he can simply move on to continuing his development.
A decent comparison for the position that Canelo is in is to the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA. In 2012, they were a rising team with young stars such as Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. The Thunder made it to the NBA finals only to face the Miami Heat, a team coming off a finals appearance the year before and led by established superstars such as LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Not many people gave the young Thunder much of a chance and, indeed, they were beaten in five games. At the time, no one questioned whether the series would crush the young team; rather it was said that it would only help Durant, Westbrook and others in the long run. Fast forward to today and the Thunder led by Durant and Westbrook are favorites to go to the Finals again and Harden is leading a strong contender in the Houston Rockets.
The same goes for Canelo. Over the course of 12 rounds with the master boxer in Mayweather, Canelo surely picked up some useful information and invaluable experience. He can now apply that to future opponents, who are all but certain to not be as skilled as Mayweather. Canelo also returns to fighting the level of fighters a world-class 23 year old should be facing in order to develop his skills. Remember, many were saying he bit off more than he could chew in facing the skilled and defensive southpaw, Austin Trout. Now, we look back at that fight as a necessary one for Canelo as it gave him great experience against a crafty opponent. If there was no Mayweather fight, his handlers likely would have steered Canelo towards a tough aggressive and skilled offensive fighter with a pressuring style. In Angulo, that is exactly who he is facing.
Some of the other questions are also not applicable to Canelo here. He is staying in the junior middleweight division and with Mayweather going back to welterweight, it is now a division that is ripe for him to become king of. Additionally, there is no concern about Canelo’s fan base abandoning him as the promoters are expecting a packed house in Las Vegas and a robust Pay Per View buyrate.
Indeed, instead of promoting this fight as a comeback, the promoters are focusing on two areas: one, that Canelo is the second biggest star in the current state of boxing and, two, this should be an action fight. It remains to be seen if Canelo can out-sell Manny Pacquiao (who has his own pay per view bout a month later in the same arena) but the fight certainly figures to be an action-filled affair. Angulo only fights in one direction and that is to come forward. Canelo can counter-punch but likes to be an aggressive boxer puncher. Their styles should mesh to create excitement for however long the bout lasts.
Should Canelo get by Angulo and the fight is a financial success, the world is literally at his feet. He can move onto big title fights in the 154 or 160 pound weight class and likely look for big names such as Mayweather rematch, the winner of June’s Sergio Martinez-Miguel Cotto middleweight championship fight or others. Either way, it still seems as if the Canelo train is on its way to title fights and increasingly big pay days. In that sense, Canelo is not coming back from defeat… he is just staying on the same path.
