Saul Alvarez’s stock has never been higher since he became the first boxer to beat Gennady Golovkin in the professional ranks back in September, becoming the unified middleweight world champion in the process. Having been accused of running for much of the first fight, which ended in a controversial split decision draw, ‘Canelo’ adopted a completely different approach in the return meeting as he took the fight to ‘GGG’ and was rewarded with a Majority Decision victory.
A rematch between the pair appears to be almost inevitable, but before that happens Alvarez will step into the boxing ring at least one more time and he is looking to add another accolade to his glittering CV having already been crowned middleweight and light-middleweight champion in his career. The 28-year-old Mexican is stepping up to the super-middleweight ranks for the first time in his career and he will be challenging WBA champion Rocky Fielding at Madison Square Garden.
“This is a new challenge, to be moving up in weight,” he said. “This is a risk that I am taking. I'm entering the comfort zone of the champion, but I'll take this challenge on because that's what I need to do to make history in my career. I want to be one of the top ten Mexican fighters to become a three-division world champion.”
Reports claim Alvarez’s camp had always been looking for the fighter to return to the ring before the end of the year, but it must be said that the choice of opponent is massively surprising with Fielding an unknown quantity for the American audience.
The 31-year-old Englishman finally made it to the mountain top in the super-middleweight division back in July when he produced the performance of a lifetime to stop Tyron Zeuge in round five and become the new WBA champion. But as good as that performance was, Fielding will have to top it by some distance if he is to enjoy a successful first defence by becoming only the second man, after Floyd Mayweather Jr, to beat Alvarez inside a professional boxing ring.
It is quite fitting that the massive underdog is called Rocky, because if he pulls this off it will be fairytale stuff that you would only expect to see in a Hollywood movie. But can we really expect him to inflict a very damaging defeat on ‘Canelo’?
“Yes, it's Canelo and yes, it's at Madison Square Garden, but I wouldn't take it if I didn't think I could beat him,” Fielding told Sky Sports. “He's moving up from middleweight and I am big super-middleweight. I've got the height and the reach so I am up against a tough fighter, one of the elite fighters, but I've got to be in it to win it. I am going there confident of winning it and I'm confident I can win it, I'm not going there just because it's Canelo at Madison Square Garden. I am going there to defend my title. I want to keep my title.”
The one advantage Fielding will have over the two-weight world champion is size. The 6’1” Liverpudlian is much taller than 5’9” Alvarez, boasting a 4.5” reach advantage, and he has spent a lot more time boxing in this higher weight class than the challenger, who is stepping up to 168lbs after spending his career fighting between the welterweight and middleweight divisions.
But while he has a size advantage, every other factor swings in the favour of Alvarez. Fielding is not the quickest and he has a tendency to load up on punches, and that is something ‘Canelo’ can exploit to devastating effect because he will be the much quicker fighter with a lot faster handspeed. He should be able to pick apart Fielding at Madison Square Garden and I do not think it will take long for him to do it. Alvarez will work over the Englishman and knock him out in the first half of the fight.