Saul “Canelo” Alvarez Takes the Road Less Traveled

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This week, Golden Boy Promotions announced that Mexican superstar and WBC Junior Middleweight titlist, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1) will face WBA 154-pound titlist Austin “No Doubt” Trout (26-0)on April 20, 2013 in San Antonio, Texas. While this fight was long-rumored, both the fact that the fight is occurring and the date/location of the fight are somewhat surprising.

Make no mistake about it… Canelo is a superstar in Mexico, his home country. He gets enormous television ratings and is extremely popular there. Indeed, this popularity has spilled over to the United States where he has appeared on premium cable telecasts and pay-per-view undercards as well as headlined at major venues such as the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a major attraction, Canelo it is assumed (and has been talked about by his management, promoters and the media) that he is positioning himself towards a big money pay-per-view showdown with Floyd Mayweather. If that is the case, one would assume he would continue facing smaller, older and less skilled fighters on his way that fight; one would also assume he would minimize the risk of a loss which could throw a big money Mayweather fight out the window. So why is he facing Trout? The same Trout who, according to multiple media members, both Top Rank and Golden Boy begged Miguel Cotto not to fight. The same Trout who easily defeated Cotto in front of a Puerto Rican crowd in New York and defeated Canelo’s brother in Mexico. The same Trout who is a slick defensive minded southpaw who is a natural junior middleweight with good size. The answer is simple… Canelo is a very confident fighter who wants to measure himself against the best. He wants to obtain another title in the division. Perhaps most importantly, he knows that a victory over Trout will raise his profile even higher… to the point where he is most certainly a superstar on both sides of the Rio Grande River.

That leads to a discussion over the surprise of where and when the fight will occur. While the rumors were circulating that Canelo would face Trout, it was heavily discussed that the fight would occur on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather – Robert Guerrero May 4, 2013 fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, Dan Rafael of ESPN has reported that Canelo eventually decided that he did not want to fight on that undercard because Mayweather would not sign a contract to face Canelo in September should Canelo defeat Trout. As such, Canelo gets his own date on Showtime, not pay-per-view. It is an opportunity for Canelo to build his own brand, separate and apart from Mayweather.

Moreover, as Canelo noted, he is not lending his considerable star-power to help Mayweather sell a pay-per-view. Thus, we could be heading to another Mayweather negotiation (or attempted negotiation) with another bonafide attraction. Mayweather was able to negotiate with Cotto. He was not able to do so with Manny Pacquiao. So, this essentially means that Canelo could be building himself up more and getting bigger money fights. But he may be hurting his opportunity to get the biggest money fight (for now). Is he cutting his nose off to spite his face? Time will tell.

Trout will also have something to say about that. However, it must be noted that he is a slick American fighter facing a Mexican Idol in Texas. One would hope he calls Pernell Whitaker and Paulie Malignaggi to learn what that means. If he doesn’t want to make the call, then here is all he needs to know: basically, Trout needs to knock out Canelo to get a draw.

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