Saul Alvarez had a front-row seat the night Josesito Lopez changed Alvarez?s life.
Alvarez, the emerging Mexican star better known as “Canelo,” was supposed to fight Victor Ortiz on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Their promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, went as far as to announce the Alvarez-Ortiz showdown a week and a half before Lopez sabotaged that ill-fated fight.
Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KOs) knows as well as anyone that if he takes Lopez lightly at MGM Grand on Saturday that the undersized underdog from Riverside, Calif., is more than capable of destroying his path to a mega-money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“He?s a very smart fighter,” Alvarez, 22, said of Lopez, who?s such a huge underdog that most Internet sports books aren?t listing odds. “He throws very good combinations. ? I trained very well. I never think any fighter is going to be an easy fight, so I?m never overconfident.”
Lopez hopes Alvarez is lying. Ortiz also said he wasn?t overlooking Lopez, despite Lopez taking their fight on short notice after Andre Berto failed a pre-fight test for performance-enhancing drugs.
Maybe Ortiz didn?t go to sleep on Lopez, but Lopez proved to the vast majority of disbelieving boxing fans and media June 23 that he belongs at boxing?s elite level. Lopez didn?t just engage Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KOs) in one of the best all-action brawls of 2012, he emphatically overcame physical and mental challenges to break Ortiz?s jaw during the ninth round in Los Angeles.
The 5-foot-9 1/2 Lopez (30-4, 18 KOs, one NC) weighed just 144 3/4 for the Ortiz bout, two-plus pounds below the contracted limit of 147, but he isn?t intimidated by the challenge of moving up to 154 pounds for a shot at the 5-9 Alvarez?s WBC super welterweight title (9 p.m., Showtime).
“Naturally, he?s going to be a bigger fighter, a heavier fighter,” Lopez, 28, said. “I feel that I?m stronger than ever and I?m prepared to prove it.”
Lopez would become the irrefutable front-runner for the Boxing Writers Association of America?s “Fighter of the Year” award if he pulls off another huge upset. Even if Lopez doesn?t do it again, his incredible story of perseverance resonates.
He never made more than $90,000 before beating Ortiz. Now he?s headlining a major boxing event in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Day weekend.
