“The One: Floyd Mayweather Jr. versus Canelo Alvarez” is an event that seems to have captured the imagination of the mainstream sports fan. It’s a match-up in which the architects and combatants deserve much credit and praise.
Both competing fighters are answering their own respective critics with a resounding “Take That” by participating in this super-pairing.
For years Floyd Jr. has been chastised by his detractors for seemingly avoiding the best fighters of his respective weight divisions and their respective primes. After defeating Austin “No Doubt” Trout on April 20th, there became a consensus among fight fans for Money May to face Saul “Canelo” Alvarez; a fighter who had also been criticized for being a product of creative match-making as well.
Canelo was consistently ridiculed by die-hard fight fans for evading the best fighters in the talent enriched Junior Middleweight division, prior to taking on his September 17th assignment…which coincidently is the best fighter in boxing.
That’s what makes “The One” so captivating to most ringside observers.
Let’s take a look at the “Tale of the Tape”!!
Largest gate revenue generated in the history of the sport? Counted and in the books! Best combined record for a super mega-fight between two Champions in this era (86-0-1)? By a landslide…..Easy work! Highest Pay-Per-View buy rate in the history of the sport? Certainly in the zone……final tally pending. No matter how we dice up this epic affair, on paper, it appears the world of Boxing is well on track to see something truly monumental by the end of the night. In an effort to analyze this colossal event, we take a closer look at not only “Keys to Victory”, “Four to Explore”, and a “Final Prediction”; but also a deeper look “Inside the Numbers”, so that we can finally put a few commonly spoken myths to bed:
To get Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. to faint, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will have to feint. In boxing that means the aggressor has to make a quick movement to trick his clever opponent. When fighting someone who is usually not there when you punch, it’s a good idea to make him commit. In other words, get him to make his defensive move, and then initiate your attack. The idea is to get freeze him, so you are not as likely to miss with your punches. Of course, the objective of the clever fighter is to keep his opponent constantly resetting.
The tape can’t measure what’s on the line Saturday night between Philadelphia’s Danny “Swift” Garcia and Argentina’s heavy handed Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse but all the ingredients are there for a blockbuster fight that would be a main event any other place or time had it not been scheduled for the Mayweather vs Canelo Alvarez WBC / WBA Super World Light Middleweight fight card.
Photos by E. Lin and Tom Casino / Showtime — Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) looked like a winner already today in Friday’s big weigh-in for his bout with WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) on Saturday night on Showtime pay-per-view in Las Vegas, Nevada. Standing in front of a huge 12,200 crowd at the MGM Grand, Mayweather weighed in at 150.5 lbs. to come in at 1.5 pounds under the 152 lb. catch-weight limit.
It’s likely happened to one or more of us at some point.
Most experts are agreed: tomorrow night’s Floyd Mayweather-Saul Alvarez fight will go the distance and Mayweather will win. But could “The One” wind up being a draw? Of course it COULD, but will it?
The boxing business like all industries is about the numbers. All week we have heard a lot of numbers thrown around from everyone involved in the promotion for this super fight.
(Photo credit: Golden Boy Promotions) LAS VEGAS, NEV. (Sept. 12, 2013) – Unified WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine Light Welterweight Champion Danny “Swift” Garcia and current WBC Inter-Continental Light Welterweight Champion Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse proved that there is more than one main event scheduled at MGM Grand in Las Vegas this Saturday night. The bout headlines one of the strongest undercards in boxing history and precedes the highly anticipated matchup between Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez.