‘Canelo’ Alvarez Ready to Make Next Step to Stardom

That chance has come again. He knows what he did the first time it was there. He might not have been ready, though he thought he was, and now it haunts him.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will always be shadowed by the first loss of his career. Every superstar fighter is. They can never shake it. Neither could Alvarez after his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. Alvarez knew he was better than how he looked that September night in 2013. He knew he could have moved better, moved faster, punched harder, somehow managed to bully the slippery Mayweather, corner and then punish him.

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Now the Mexican luminary finds himself at boxing’s epicenter once more on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, where he will take on lineal middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) -- the Puerto Rican icon who suddenly seems rejuvenated under boxing sensei Freddie Roach -- on HBO pay-per-view. What Cotto, 35, may not realize is that this is a different Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs), someone far different than the one “Money” pawed at and ran from two years ago. Cotto will be facing a more poised fighter, filled with verve and far greater experience than he had going into the Mayweather fight.

In short, Cotto will be facing a menacing wrecking ball.

Adding to Alvarez’s motivation was his split decision win over Erislandy Lara. What bothers Alvarez, 25, is that the Mayweather and Lara fights are propped up as proof to some that the former light middleweight world champion is overrated and that his flaws have been exposed. Beating Cotto would silence the critics.

“This fight is my opportunity to show the world why I think I’m a champion,” Alvarez said. “I think that I’ve learned from every single fight and from every single opponent I’ve ever faced. I’ve faced some great fighters. Were there errors? Yes, but [they are] things that I’ve corrected. I’m going to go in there and do what I need to do.

“For Cotto, we’ve trained very hard to apply everything I’ve learned to the ring,” he added. “I love to push myself. I took the time to look at my videos after a fight to see not what I did right but what I did wrong, to learn from those mistakes.”

Alvarez’s trainer, Eddy Reynoso, senses this will be a far better version of his fighter than what the world saw two years ago -- or even six months ago, when “Canelo” demolished James Kirkland.

“Canelo has power, the power has always been there; now he just needs to apply it and explode,” Reynoso said. “I know what was said after Canelo lost to Mayweather, that he suddenly had weaknesses. It was the same way when Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. lost to Frankie Randall. All you heard was people criticize [Chavez] for not being able to move, that he had no defense.

“It’s like everything the guy ever did that was great suddenly disappeared,” he added. “How can that happen? How can he be great and then suddenly no good when all anyone had to do was look at his record? Same thing with Canelo. He’ll show everyone how great he is against Cotto.”

Alvarez vows that he has learned; he vows that he is different; and he vows that he is going to win dramatically -- and possibly erase the stain that plagues him.

“I do not want to leave this up to the judges; this will [be] left to my hands,” Alvarez said. “I’m ready for Cotto. I’m going to go out after him and press him early [and] see if he can take what I have. That’s the plan, starting in the first round. We’re going to press the fight. He is very strong. I won’t underestimate his strength, but he’s going to have to deal with my strength from the very beginning of the fight.”

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.