Since his consecration in the early 1990s, Julio Cesar Chavez was named by public opinion as the greatest Mexican fighter of all time.
With his towering talent, deadly left hook, jaw of stone, and relentless bravery, he engineered some of the most legendary nights in boxing history. These feats led him to surpass the careers of Ruben “Puas” Olivares and Salvador Sanchez, both considered the best in Aztec boxing before the rise of the “Great Mexican Champion.”
Around the turn of the new millennium, Erik “Terrible” Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera appeared as the potential heirs of Chavez at the top of Mexican boxing. Both had careers that also led to being immortalized in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. But in the end, neither Morales nor Barrera could come close to the greatness of the “Sultan of Culiacan.”
After this time, at the end of the 2010s, along with the true heir of the Mexican Grand Champion, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., a boy from Guadalajara named Saul “Canelo” Alvarez also stood out.
Both were propelled to stardom by the main television networks in Mexico (TV Azteca and Televisa) to revive boxing in this country after two decades in which the masses were deprived of the biggest fights due to the proliferation of the “Pay As You Go” system.
And while Chavez Jr. couldn’t quite live up to his legendary last name, on the flip side, Alvarez did go on to become a megastar, reaching heights only Chavez Sr. had ever seen.
After Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao retired, Canelo took the torch, and since 2016 he has been considered the face of boxing.
There is no doubt that Canelo has categorically surpassed Chavez as the highest-grossing Mexican boxer of all time.
For his 1996 bout against Oscar De La Hoya, Chavez earned a career-high $9 million in 115 bouts. Alvarez, by comparison, in his last fight alone — the closing of the trilogy against Gennadiy Golovkin — earned a guaranteed $45 million.
Canelo has been on Forbes Magazine’s list of the world’s highest-paid athletes for several years now. On the 2023 list, the Jalisco native ranks fifth with $110 million in earnings, trailing only NBA icon LeBron James and world soccer stars Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
And obviously, this economic success goes hand in hand with his performance in the ring.
With almost 18 years in the ring and 62 fights, Canelo has won world titles in four different divisions (super welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight). In 2021, he made history by being the first Mexican to unify the crowns of a division of the four main boxing organizations (WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO) and the first fighter, in general, to do so at 168 pounds. Until his loss a year ago against undefeated light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, he had been considered the best pound-for-pound fighter for three years.
