By Vitali Shaposhnikov: Sometimes when things seem grim because good opportunities vanish, new ones make a surprise appearance, resolving the situation. For Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, this may be the case.
When Alvarez was set to fight Paul Williams, The Punisher suffered a devastating injury due to a road accident. This news was overwhelming for the entire boxing community as well as Paul’s family. It also left Alvarez without a credible and worthy opponent. Saul then tried to organize a fight with Miguel Cotto, who seemed like a perfect substitute, with a tremendous name and boxing abilities. Beating Cotto would be a huge deal for Alvarez, as his record, despite being impressive, is lacking top echelon opposition. Cotto refused the fight, instead trying to work out a re-match with Floyd Mayweather Jr., which according to numerous recent reposts, just might end up becoming a reality at the MSG arena in New York. Once again, Alvarez was left without a future foe.
Now, according to recent reports, Marcos Maidana is interested and ready to step inside the ring against Alvarez sometime on September 15, 2012. “The one I’d like to fight is Canelo Alvarez. He’s a bit bigger than me but I think I have the power to KO him,” posted Maidana on his Twitter account. (https://twitter.com/chinomaidana/)
In my opinion, this would be an excellent fight. Maidana’s rock solid chin, willingness to come forward, and his evident KO power might turn out to be very effective against the bigger and taller Alvarez. Just like Cotto, I think Maidana would be an excellent choice and would certainly put up a good fight. Alvarez has definitely improved, but it’s hard to tell just how good he really is. His performance against Shane Mosley cannot be taken into account, as Mosley was unable to display anything of value against Canelo that night.
Victory over Maidana would add a lot to Saul’s record, and shoud undoubtedly give his the right to challenge the cream of the crop. Maybe after that fight, team Alvarez and team Khan can sit down and see if they want to make something happen. Having said that, counting out Maidana could turn out to be a very costly mistake. If anyone has a decent chance of sending Canelo to the canvas, Maidana would be that fighter.
Now that Maidana has made his desire to fight Alvarez public, we will hear from Canelo real soon.