It's time to talk about Canelo Alvarez's place among the greatest boxers of all time

Andreas Hale

It's time to talk about Canelo Alvarez's place among the greatest boxers of all time image

LAS VEGAS — Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has a chance to make history Saturday when he challenges Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight championship. Should he win, Canelo would become the 25th fighter to hold titles in four different weight classes.

He would join the likes of Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Pernell Whitaker, Marvin Hagler, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao with the distinction of being a four-division champion. Of the 24 other fighters, only Leonard has made the successful climb from welterweight (147 pounds) to light heavyweight (175 pounds). 

That’s rarefied air for a fighter who has yet to turn 30. 

MORE: Sign up for DAZN and watch boxing and MMA live in Canada 

Yet, Alvarez still has his detractors who have difficulty putting him atop boxing’s fictional pound-for-pound list. Never mind the fact that he is 52-1-2 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of arguably the greatest fighter of this generation in Mayweather shortly after the Mexican fighter had turned 23. 

He’s routinely mentioned as one of the top three pound-for-pound fighters in the world but is rarely placed ahead of Terence Crawford and Vasiliy Lomachenko. However, when you put their respective resumes under the microscope, Alvarez’s catalog of opponents is, by far, the best in boxing.  

The biggest name on Crawford’s resume is either Viktor Postol, Yuriorkis Gamboa or Amir Khan. Lomachenko is older at 31, has only 15 total fights to Alvarez’s 55 and the best name he has fought is a Guillermo Rigondeaux who was criminally undersized when they met in December 2017. 

Both pale in comparison to what Canelo has accomplished. 

Alvarez has fought the likes of Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Erislandy Lara, Daniel Jacobs, Austin Trout and is the only man to hold a victory over the mighty Gennadiy Golovkin. Sure, Alvarez squeezed out some narrow decisions against Golovkin and Lara, but there’s never been a challenge that he’s backed down from.  

Much of fight week has been filled with conversations surrounding Alvarez’s place among Mexico’s greatest pugilists. But should the 29-year-old put on a stellar performance and claim the light heavyweight title against another former pound-for-pound fighter in Kovalev, he should undoubtedly sit atop the current pound-for-pound rankings.  

Not only that, but it would be time to remove the “Mexican” modifier and begin discussing where Canelo’s place is among the greatest boxers of all-time.

MORE: Get the latest news on Canelo vs. Kovalev 

To be clear, there is still a lot of Alvarez’s career to still lend itself to history, which leaves room for error. He could end up having a second half of his career like Roy Jones Jr., who was considered one of the greatest to ever lace up gloves with a 49-1 record before going 17-8 against lesser competition and falling out of the conversation. 

But it's important to note that Alvarez’s greatness extends beyond his countrymen. Pigeonholing him as just a great Mexican fighter would be unfair to his legacy. And although Alvarez would certainly like to be recognized as one of the greatest Mexican boxers to ever live, alongside the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez, Juan Manuel Marquez, Salvador Sanchez and Carlos Zarate, the fact of the matter is that he’s already deserving of being in the conversation.  

“History will only tell,” Alvarez’s trainer Chepo Reynoso said earlier this week when discussing Canelo’s place among the all-time greats. “He is still forming his history. I believe he is one of the best, but once he’s done history will place him as one of the greatest in boxing history.”

Aside from a remarkable resume, Alvarez’s skills inside of the squared circle are undeniable. He’s demonstrated a granite chin that has seen him hurt only one time in his career, against Jose Miguel Cotto back in 2010. And that’s impressive considering he’s gone 24 rounds with Golovkin and was never remotely in trouble against one of the biggest punches in middleweight history. 

Since the Mayweather fight, he has shown marked improvements defensively and an undeniable ability to adapt on the fly. His upper body movement is superb, and he balances his defensive prowess with exceptional combination punching, a wicked body assault and above-average power. 

“I have not yet reached my peak yet,” Alvarez said this week. “I still have a lot to learn and I’m excited to show everyone what I can do.”

MORE: Canelo-Kovalev info, how to watch

He'll have every opportunity to again prove his naysayers wrong when he steps in the ring with a true light heavyweight who was once recognized as a top three pound-for-pound fighter. Should Alvarez come out victorious, he would have defeated three different fighters who have been ranked among the top three pound-for-pound fighters in the world at some point in their career by The Ring Magazine (Mosley and Golovkin are the others).  You'll be hard-pressed to find a boxer with those accolades.  

Obviously, conversations about the greatest of all-time have a moving goalpost when the fighter is still active. But, rest assured, Alvarez is far from done seeking out the toughest challenges in boxing to further prove his worth. Whether that be a trilogy fight with Golovkin, a defense of the light heavyweight title, a unification bout at middleweight or an attempt to collect a major super middleweight title against WBA (Super) titlist Callum Smith, Alvarez isn't short of options to further establish his legacy. 

“I believe he will be the champion of the decade, and he is continuing to build on this," Eddy Reynoso, Canelo's co-trainer added. "The data, championships and fights will show that he is among the best. We will make him the greatest fighter in history.”

Like it or not, he's truly not that far away from greatness. 

Andreas Hale

Andreas Hale Photo

Andreas Hale is the senior editor for combat sports at The Sporting News. Formerly at DAZN, Hale has written for various combat sports outlets, including The Ring, Sherdog, Boxing Scene, FIGHT, Champions and others. He has been ringside for many of combat sports’ biggest events, which include Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-McGregor, Canelo-GGG, De La Hoya-Pacquiao, UFC 229, UFC 202 and UFC 196, among others. He also has spent nearly two decades in entertainment journalism as an editor for BET and HipHopDX while contributing to MTV, Billboard, The Grio, The Root, Revolt, The Source, The Grammys and a host of others. He also produced documentaries on Kendrick Lamar, Gennadiy Golovkin and Paul George for Jay-Z’s website Life+Times.