What were you doing at 25? Well, enough about you. Let?s focus on Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez and what he?s doing at that age.
He?s beaten ?Sugar? Shane Mosely. He?s lost once in 47 fights ? to boxing brick wall Floyd Mayweather. His promoter is hall of famer Oscar De La Hoya. One woman who used to hang on his 72-inch, bomb-throwing arm is a Mexican TV personality who competed at the Miss Universe pageant.
Alvarez recently sold his San Diego County home, according to the Los Angeles Times ? seven bathrooms, movie theater, quartet of fireplaces, 12,000 square feet and all ? for $6 million.
If boxing is fighting for relevancy, sign most of us up to be as irrelevant as Alvarez.
Dozens of media members swarmed the House of Boxing training center Thursday near the eastern edge of National City for a glimpse of Alvarez, who could be the most important tool to cut through the sport?s middleweight division fog.
Alvarez danced and weaved around the ring in advance of his Nov. 21 fight against WBC champion Miguel Cotto at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Canelo, which is Spanish for ?cinnamon? in homage to his carrot-colored hair, turned pro 10 years ago Thursday, ducking jabs and rearranging jawlines around the time most of us are practicing for our driver?s license.
And oh yeah, the legendary Roberto Duran recently called him ?the new star of boxing.?
?What people tend to forget, yes, he?s only 25 years old, and he?s already been up against a lot of great fighters,? De La Hoya said in an interview with the Union-Tribune. ?When I recall my career (or Manny) Pacquiao?s or Mayweather?s, we weren?t fighting those types of fighters at that age.
?You could say he?s ahead of the game. He?s on a fast track. He?s in the fast lane.?
Alvarez is speeding toward stardom that will extend far beyond his native Mexico if he topples Cotto and finds a way into the ring with Gennady Golovkin ? the reigning waistline for the WBA and IBF belts. Golovkin is ranked the world?s No. 4 pound-for-pound puncher by Ring magazine.
De La Hoya guaranteed Thursday that the fight will happen ? in due time.
?We don?t know if it?s next, we don?t know when, but it?s going to happen,? he said. ?There?s no doubt about it.?
Minutes earlier, doubt already had been hit with a standing-eight count.
?I?m very happy with what I?ve accomplished, but we?re going for more. We?re not going to stop here,? Alvarez said through an interpreter. ?? Yes, of course (I?ll fight Golovkin). It?s a fight that?s eventually going to happen.?
