Champion in four different divisions after shaking Callum Smith last December 19 Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez adds merits to rank itself among the best Mexican boxers in history, while big-format rivals like Billy Joe Saunders, Edgar Berlanga O Demetrius Andrade They wait their turn to fight him, aware that he can be a catapult for star planes in boxing and the big bags.
Constantly rated as “The best pound for pound in the world”, the tapatío today you have the luxury of analyzing your options and see who best suits their needs, always with the idea of consolidating their status, something unlike what they had to live in the beginning, where their daring earned him criticism and contempt, while especially remembering the friction with which he had Juan Manuel Marquez, a legend to which challenged, but always refused.
How did the rivalry between Márquez and Canelo develop?
In 2011, prior to his fight against Matthew Hatton In the World Boxing Council (WBC) ‘super welterweight’ category, ‘el Dinamita’ Márquez wondered why the body dared to hold that match despite “I was not rated in the top ten”, which led to a exchange of statements which eventually put the then 20-year-old in his place.
“I put myself in the shoes of those who are classified at that ‘super welterweight’ weight and I know how much effort they put into the top ten and I think it’s absurd that ‘Canelo’ is going to fight someone who isn’t. It makes no sense to me that another boxer from a different category arrives in Europe and can contest the title, with the one at number four, ”said Márquez in the program“ Tribunal Televisa Deportes ”.
Canelo launched the challenge, Dynamite refused
Canelo, intelligent, took advantage of Dynamite’s criticism to take on a challenge to show your competencealthough his answer left him in a bad way. Being in different divisions it was an argument that weighed heavily in a discussion that took place live on the ‘Show de Piolín’ signal, a popular radio show for Spanish-speaking audiences in the United States.
“If he doesn’t believe in my abilities I wish him to clear all doubts, he went out to fight Mayweather, Why can’t he come and fight me?, the Canelo, to which Márquez replied, “At this point in my career we are not looking for something that cannot be. I may arrive to fight Manny Pacquiaoif I’m going to take a risk let it be for something good and we are going to take a step forward ”.
The meeting never took place despite Mauricio Sulaimán and Óscar de la Hoya intervening for Canelo, then a young man who wanted to eat the greats of boxing, a category he would reach nearly a decade later.
The fact is, you don’t have to worry.