Canelo Alvarez has owned American opponents. Will Jermell Charlo be different?
Will Jermell Charlo be just another American victim of Canelo Alvarez?
The Mexican star, who is scheduled to defend his 168-pound championship against Charlo on pay-per-view Saturday in Las Vegas, has fought 13 opponents from the United States and has beaten all but one of them, Floyd Mayweather.
Alvarez has faced more fellow Mexicans (22-0-1) than those from any other country. However, his dominance over Americans – as well as Britons (8-0) – has shaped his legacy.
The then-23-year-old 154-pound titleholder took a big risk when he decided to fight Mayweather, already an all-time great at the time, but none of “Money’s” countrymen have been able to take him down.
Alvarez fought a few obscure Americans early in his career but three consecutive victories over elite Yanks in 2012 and 2013 helped lift him to star status, a one-sided decision over future Hall of Famer Shane Mosley, a fifth-round knockout of Josesito Lopez and a clear decision over then-unbeaten Austin Trout.
Trout was impressed, saying, “He was better than me. I have no excuses.”
Then came the setback against Mayweather, who outclassed his young foe. Judge C.J. Ross went off the rails, scoring the one-sided fight 114-114. The other two cards came closer to reflecting reality, 117-111 and 116-112 for Mayweather.
Alvarez’s first loss hurt his pride but he came to look back at it as a valuable learning experience.
“That fight really helped me to improve and move forward in my career. So I keep looking ahead,” he told ESPN Deportes a few years after the fight.
The next American he faced became the victim of arguably his most spectacular knockout, James Kirkland. Alvarez put him down three times, twice in Round 3, before knocking him unconscious with a vicious straight right in that round in 2015.
That stoppage and his one-punch stoppage of Englishman Amir Khan are the best examples of Alvarez’s destructive power.
He next faced an opponent from the U.S. four years later, when he battled the capable Daniel Jacobs in a 160-pound title-unification fight. Alvarez didn’t dominate Jacobs but he won a clear unanimous decision, one of his most impressive victories in recent years given Jacobs’ ability.
His final American opponent was Caleb Plant in November 2021, his last fight before his stunning unanimous decision loss to talented 175-pound champ Dmitry Bivol and perceived decline.
The slick Plant boxed well much of the fight but Alvarez gradually closed the distance on him, wore him down and stopped him in the 11th round, which turned out to be the superstar’s most recent knockout.
Could Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) be Alvarez’s 40th stoppage victim?
If Alvarez’s subpar performances in his recent fights can be attributed to injuries and he’s healthy now, as he claims, Charlo could be in trouble. If he struggled because he has simply lost a step, Charlo could join Mayweather as the only Americans to take down the face of boxing.