Canelo Alvarez is a comfortable -400 betting favorite against Jermell Charlo in their battle between undisputed champions on Saturday night.
But the super middleweight king is still cautious and careful in how he’ll proceed in his conquests due to Charlo’s crafty skillset.
“Everything [Charlo presents is a challenge.] I think he’s a big fighter. He has speed. He has power. He has really good moves. So he has everything,” Alvarez said in an interview with BoxingScene.com and other media.
“I think he’s a dangerous opponent. This fight has been talked about for a long time. I think it’s the correct moment to do it.”
Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) versus Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Showtime pay-per-view, and it will mark Alvarez’s first of three fights under the Premier Boxing Champions banner.
Alvarez has not been pleased with his performances spanning his previous three fights – a unanimous decision loss against Dmitry Bivol and ho-hum unanimous decision wins against Gennadiy Golovkin and John Ryder.
Alvarez chalked up his somewhat lackluster showings due to a lingering left wrist injury that eventually required surgery last fall.
“I’m not happy,” admitted Alvarez. “I’m happy with what I did with all of the things I [had to deal with] in my hand. I was not 100% because of my hand. I was not able to train 100% and do the pads with [trainer] Eddie [Reynoso] and hit the heavy bags hard.”
Throughout the promotion, the 33-year-old Alvarez has openly wondered if he’s lost a step.
The strong sentiment sounds like he’ll be fighting with the mentality of an underdog against a hungry fighter who will be moving up two weight classes to challenge him.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.