Canelo

I've been ducking.

ESPN's boxing prospect of 2010, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, 37-0-1 (27), has been racking up wins left and right.  He's been growing increasingly popular, especially since his knockout of Carlos Baldomir in September.  He just won a TKO victory over Ryan Rhodes in the light middleweight division this weekend; the media is talking about him; and I have yet to say anything about him.

I've been ducking Canelo Alvarez.  I have avoided posting about this big rising star.  Why?

Because "canelo" means "cinnamon" in Spanish, and that's just about the worst boxing nickname I've ever heard.  [Note to professional boxers: when it comes to searching the spice cabinet for a nickname, "Sugar" has historically been the best way to go.]

OK, well, that may not be the entire reason I've been avoiding him.  The actual reason is because I don't think he's all that impressive, and he's been getting much more credit than he deserves lately.

Golden Boy has been bolstering this guy's record by matching him up with nobody's, besides for an old Carlos Baldomir and an old and never great Lovemore N'dou.  And of course, after he beat them, his popularity took off in the States.

The first fight of his I saw live was the light middleweight title shot against Matthew Hatton in March.  Canelo whooped Hatton, no surprise.

However, I became increasingly turned off by Canelo's fighting style.  His only defense was his offense, but he didn't hit all that hard.  And frankly, when your only defense is your offense, you better hit hard.  And you better be relentless, which Canelo wasn't quite.

And Canelo got hit with a lot of power shots all night--more than HBO's highlight reel lets on.  Fortunately for Canelo, Hatton isn't that hard a hitter.  An aggressive counter-puncher would make easy work of him, mark my words.

Perhaps my disappointment originates with his promoter, Oscar de la Hoya.  I first heard of Alvarez from de la Hoya, who called him a cross between Julio Cesar Chavez and himself.  After hearing that, no matter how good Canelo was I was headed for disappointment.  He's nowhere near as good as the other two.

Don't get me wrong now, the kid is aggressive and fun to watch.  He'll certainly make some entertaining fights, such as the potential future bout against big Mexican rival Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., who has a very similar style.  That will be a great fight and a fun prediction to make on my end.

Here's a video from YouTube that came out in advance of the Baldomir fight.  There are two reasons why I'm posting it: one is because he mentions the possibility of fighting Chavez Jr., and the other is because of his girlfriend (1:45).

And here's a good career highlight reel I found on YouTube; decide for yourself what you think about Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.  Let me hear some thoughts!

-JD