At the tail end of Thursday?s Ring Kings press conference inside of Grauman?s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, WBC junior middleweight champion Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez found himself amidst a sea of members from the media.
The 21-year old Alvarez, a native of Guadalajar, Mexico, has seen his star rise dramatically in America over the past few years and he is eyeing a May 5th bout with former champion Shane Mosley. The bout is set to take place on the Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto pay-per-view undercard and likely will serve as Alvarez?s most high-profile contest to date given the magnitude of the event.
The 40-year old Mosley has had a memorable run in the sport, winning champions in three weight divisions and testing himself against a slew of formidable opponents over the years. But the Pomona, Calif. native has looked less than stellar in recent outings, the latest being a May unanimous decision loss to Manny Pacquiao inside of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, the same setting for the Alvarez melee.
In that fight with Pacquiao, Mosley was dropped in the third round and went into retreat mode for the rest of the fight, drawing criticism for what appeared to be a serious lack of effort.
It was a far cry from his glory days as a champion but Alvarez isn?t putting all of his stock into that performance from Shane.
?I was a little disappointed in the fight also, but this sport is about styles,? Alvarez stated through Golden Boy Promotions? Eric Gomez during our brief conversation. ?And there are some styles that are going to make you look bad. I know that he?s a great champion and the fights that he?s had good performances in, he?s been great. So I know that for this fight he?s going to be ready.?
A few weeks back, Miguel Rivera and Victor Gonzalez dropped a piece where Alvarez claimed he had reached an agreement to face the Mayweather-Cotto winner, possibly in 2013.
While Alvarez loves such a thought, he denies that such a deal was ever finalized.
?No, that?s not true,? said Alvarez. ?There?s nothing concrete. It?s a dream that I have. Obviously I want to dream and I want to dream big. Hopefully it can happen in the future, but no, it?s not true.?
Alvarez was asked to break down Cotto?s task with Mayweather and how he feels the Puerto Rican must fight in order to have success, but his response wasn?t too revealing.
?It?s a great fight. He has a very good chance,” said Alvarez.
