In his 18-year career, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has stood out for his punching power and skillful boxing. However, a video of a recent training session for his fight against Edgar Berlanga has set off alarm bells among his fans and unleashed criticism from his detractors.
“Canelo” Alvarez has been the pillar of Mexican boxing for the past 14 years. Since he won his first world championship by unanimous decision over Matthew Hatton in 2011, the Mexican fighter has defeated some of the best exponents of world boxing.
The native of Guadalajara, Mexico, has defeated rivals such as Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto, Gennady Golovkin, Billy Joe Saunders, and most recently, Jaime Munguía. Despite this, experts and fans still criticize Canelo for apparently avoiding the best rivals of the moment.
For months, the boxing world has been waiting for a confrontation between Alvarez and David Benavidez, the WBC mandatory rival. However, the Mexican decided to face Berlanga on September 14, an opponent who, despite being undefeated, lacks Benavidez’s track record.
The controversial video
In the images published on X (formerly Twitter) by Michael Benson, boxing editor of TalkSport, Canelo can be seen training with the punching bag at an extremely slow pace. The Mexican alternates barely marked blows on the bag with others slightly more powerful, all at a slower pace than what is usually seen in this type of video.
The reactions were not long in coming, most of them questioning the quality of Alvarez’s next opponent. “That heavy bag is moving better than Berlanga,” “The bag is a better opponent than Bumlanga,” and “Bag putting up more of a fight than we should expect in September,” are some of the comments on the video.
Others point out that Alvarez has not impressed in his latest fights. “Last stoppage was 3 years ago… I’m not impressed…” recalled one user, and another claimed, “I can punch harder and faster than that…. c’mon Canelo, losing a step?.”
Fans are already waiting for his next fight
There are also those who say that they will skip this fight and wait for Canelo to accept Benavidez’s challenge.
Although the fight against Berlanga has not even taken place, the media and fans are already predicting Canelo’s next opponent. The mandatory fights for Alvarez are against Benavidez for the WBC and William Scull for the IBF.
Also on the list are a rematch against Jermall Charlo, Britain’s Chris Eubank Jr., and Terence Crawford, Influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul has also raised his hand for a fight with the Mexican, and there has even been talk of him facing a mixed martial artist.