The last two decades of boxing have given us some great Mexican boxing champions: Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Oscar de la Hoya (he’s Mexican-American but we’ll claim him). You’re probably reading this and thinking, “WHERE IS JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ?!” Hey, slow down, I’m getting there. No disrespect to these other fighters, but Chávez was on a completely different level.
Julio César Chávez, one of the best to have ever put on a pair of boxing gloves, didn’t lose (or get knocked down for that matter) until his 90th fight. Let that sink in a little bit…the man won eighty-nine professional fights in a row without ever losing. He beat notable opponents like Roger Mayweather, Pernell Whitaker, Edwin Rosario, and Hector “Macho” Camacho. Chávez is best remembered, however, for the March 1990 mega-fight, where he put up his WBC Welterweight Title up against the IBF Welterweight Champion (and also undefeated) Meldrick Taylor. Chávez beat Taylor by a controversial TKO stoppage that was named Ring Magazine’s “Fight of the Decade.”
While Chávez’s place in boxing history can’t be disputed (many boxing historians place him in the top-25 of all-time, not bad at all), he is widely regarded as the best Mexican fighter to ever step into the ring. Similar to how basketball fans are waiting for the next Michael Jordan, Mexican boxing fans are waiting for the next Julio César Chávez. Sure other great, recent Mexican boxers have provided some great memories, but none of them, for one reason or another, were able to reach Chávez’s status.
Enter a 20-year old kid (born only a few months after Chávez’s historic victory over Taylor) from Guadalajara, by the name of Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez. Nicknamed ‘Canelo’ for his cinnamon-red hair, the kid that left adolescence less than a year ago has already won 36 professional bouts, with one draw and zero defeats. His combination of power, footwork, humility, and the devastating body punch that has made Mexican fighters notorious, has endeared him to Mexican boxing fans, seemingly overnight.
Although Álvarez still has a long way to go until he’s considered one of the best current pound-for-pound fighters, his promise cannot be ignored. He already has the WBC Junior Middleweight Title to his name, and if he continues to improve he’ll also have many more belts in different weight classes. I still remember the first time I saw Oscar de la Hoya fight in 1995, when he decimated what was a very good Rafa Ruelas.
As they interviewed de la Hoya, my Tío Juan said to me, “Remember that name m’ijo, Oscar de la Hoya, he’s gonna be one of the greats.” He was right, so let me pull a Tío Juan on y’all: remember the name Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez, he’s gonna be one of the greats. And, who knows, maybe in 15 years we’ll be comparing him to Julio César Chávez, the greatest Mexican boxer that ever lived (sorry Julio César Chávez Jr.).
Note: Canelo Álvarez puts his WBC Junior Middleweight Title on the line against Ryan Rhodes June 18 on HBO from Guadalajara, Mexico.
About Cristopher Rubio
Really like what his camp is doing with him: not pushing him up to quick. Seems like he only gets better in every fight, even if it means he take a couple a couple rounds off just to work on his defense and take a few shots. I like Manny P, but its time for our raza to have our own superstar, AY LES VA EL CANELO CABRONES!
He seems legit, just wish boxing was more organized so its easier to follow these young guys
Hey Cris! I enjoyed your article, however, I disagree with Canelo potentially being one of the greats. He hasn’t convinced me, yet.
There will always be legends, but we are always waiting for the next name to rise above the rest. The next big thing. Great article Cris. People better be on the look out for Canela.
Very interesting article, showed me a little bit of boxing I don’t know about. Look forward to reading more .
Cesar Chavez was the stuff. I remember watching many of his wins in the 90′s and thinking — thats OUR fighter! Que Viva La Raza!
Well said! Definitely looking forward to what this kid does. People are trying to be so quick to dub Chavez Jr. as the next Julio Cesar, but that’s still up for debate.
Really good article. I think he will be a great boxer one day. he is still very young and has a lot of growing up to do both technacly and atitude wise, but I think he’s surrounding himself with the right people to achieve this.
Great Read Rubio. I hope you are right, with the popularity of MMA and the lack of heavy-weights to get excited about, boxing needs someone to bring it back to the masses.
I haven’t follow boxing in a while and this is a great article!! … Looking forward into “Canelo” and his future legacy…
Thank you for the comments! This article is obviously pro-Mexican, but there are some great young Latino boxers out there right now! Argentina’s Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez is one of the top 5 pound-for-pound fighters in the world right now, and Yuri Gamboa (Cuban) and Juan Manuel Lopez (Puerto Rico) are also going to be big names in the next couple years! Really excited to see Latino boxers taking the spotlight!
Great Article, Can’t wait for the next one.
Its a Mexican tradition to bloat up records with weak competition when you have a good prospect. Canelo is very raw right now still with many flaws and his camp is doing him no favors by treating him with kid gloves. Depends way too much on his power. This kid could be really great or get exposed sooner than later. Would like to see him against a brawler like Angulo and work his way up to Cotto in a year.
Like your article man, I would love reading what you think about the new generation of Latino athletes. Lately we’ve seen a wave of very talented and professional guys in almost every sport – Barea in the Mavs, the young Mexican soccer squad, Canelo, and of course Chicharo in Manchester.
Looking forward to reading more of your articles
After reading this article I want to see him fight this weekend. Thanks for the info on the boxing world.
107 wins out of 115 with 89 of those KOs definitely puts Chavez on the top list of world’s best boxers. It’s about time we get another champion out there but Canelo? He’s too young to tell but we’ll see how he does against rhodes this weekend.
I enjoyed your article, it was on point and I liked that you brought up Ruelas. That was definetly a fight that helpd put De La Hoya over the top. I’m sure Canelo will get his opportunity soon, word on the street is that Carlos Slim (world’s richest) offered Pacman $65 mill to fight Alvarez. I hope that happens rather than the proposed Marquez vs Alvarez fight that was bound to happen if Pacman didn’t take the marquez fight.
Very Interesting article about our latino boxers. I don’t follow boxing that often, but I did watch alot of Julio Cesar greatest hits. I think that once Julio started being more of the spotlight, he kept on losing his fighting ability and it took him a while to finally realize it. Let’s see what Saul Canelo brings to boxing!
Great Article! Witty and Informative, but is it just me or does Canelo looks Irish as heck with that red hair lol
Great article and wonderful read! Cant wait to read future ones!
Realized I didnt click notify me of new posts so I am commenting again so that I can read more of these!
Very good article i like the tio Juan part. I haven’t watched boxing in a while, but I really want to see him fight now.
Great article. Looking forward to reading more from you Cris!
that was a great article. Cant wait to read future ones.
Good stuff. I saw one of his matches a while back. Pretty impressive. I know who to be on the look out for now.
Great article. This Cristopher Rubio guy really knows his sports…
Good Stuff!!
I just got into watching boxing and MMA a few months ago cause I joined a kickboxing/mma gym. I’m going to try to watch some of Canelo
Wow thats very informative! I definitely learned a lot! I want to read more stuff from this Cristopher Rubio guy
I enjoyed reading your article Cris… The only latino fighter I remember very well was Cesar Chavez and he put on a great fights. I really hope this young fighter {Canelo) is as great or better. Can’t wait to see him in the upcoming boxing matches.
an interesting article that gave me an insight in the history of boxing. keep up the good work.
Great work bro. I hope you had the chance to watch his 12th round TKO last night.
Sorry, I should have posted this update on Sunday: El Canelo won on Saturday night with a 12th round TKO of Ryan Rhodes. He dominated the match and looked really good, however, it’s hard to gauge just how well he did because Rhodes is not that great of a fighter. Look for El Canelo’s next fight on September 17, the weekend of Mexican Independence Day, possibly on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Victor Ortiz fight.
Irish settled in Mexico in the Mexican American War. Battalion of Saint Patrick- glorified in Mexican history, demonized in American.
He is Mexican, but sure looks to have some Irish Ancestry.
Nevertheless, for his age he has great boxing intelligence and responded to the criticism of slow feat and poor defense he exhibited versus Hatton and thereby dominated Rhodes.
Great potential. Hope he has a great career; for himself, his family, Mexico, and the World.