How Canelo Alvarez became ‘the face of boxing’

Reflecting on how Canelo Alvarez went from 15-year-old novice to a four-weight world champion and one of the biggest names boxing has ever seen.

Alvarez-Scull Boxing (AP)

Canelo Alvarez is the prize draw this weekend when the boxing world turns its attention to Saudi Arabia tonight, Saturday, May 3.

The Mexican will hope to re-unify all the belts at super middleweight by defeating the Cuban William Scull. Canelo enters the bout with the WBA, WBO, and WBC titles, whilst Scull currently holds the IBF super middleweight strap.

Victory will see Canelo become undisputed at 168 pounds for a second time, further cementing his position as the face of boxing. Such a label is both hard-earned and hard to prove, but Canelo has backed up his claim over the years.

Domestic stardom served as a platform to build on globally

Mexican boxing fans are some of the most passionate in the world, proudly cheering on their fighters both home and abroad. However, since Canelo Alvarez proved himself in his home country, no other fighter has come close to his popularity.

Making his professional debut at 15, Canelo was quickly backed by Mexican television company Televisa, garnering both attention and jealousy. Established as a household name in Mexico, Alvarez joined Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions five years into his professional career.

That coincided with Canelo’s first push for a world title, going on to win the WBC super welterweight belt in 2011.

Golden Boy and Canelo managed to convert the hype and momentum earned in Mexico into big crowds in America, breaking Alvarez into a new market.

Canelo has not forgotten his Mexican roots, making it a tradition to fight on the weekend closest to Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day in September.

This weekend is no different, and whilst Canelo will be fighting outside of North America for the first time, plenty will be watching back home.

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Impressive CV earned by willingness to fight big names

In the modern era, boxers have become more and more concerned about preserving their unbeaten records, with the desire to remain undefeated seeing mouthwatering fights unable to be made.

Whether you call it being selective or claiming that a fighter is ducking an opponent, neither truly applies to Canelo.

At 23 years of age, Canelo was willing to face undefeated veteran Floyd Mayweather, who entered the bout with a perfect record of 44 wins. The bout was contested at a catchweight of 153 pounds, further hindering underdog Canelo.

Aside from his lack of fear in facing a vastly more experienced opponent, Canelo also put his WBC super-welterweight title on the line. The expected happened, with Mayweather outclassing his younger opponent in a majority decision win.

Not only was the Mexican shown a clinical boxing display, he also saw firsthand how a boxer can guide his own career commercially.

As evidenced by his above quotes, Canelo combined his ability in the ring with solid promotion, building himself as both a boxer and a 'brand'.

His commercial pull has made him a very wealthy man, with Forbes listing the Mexican as the 14th highest-paid athlete of 2024.

In recent years Canelo has moved to secure a bigger slice of purses for his fight; with his promotion company, the eponymous Canelo Promotions, replacing more established promoters in his negotiations for bouts.

That is directly out of the Mayweather playbook, with Floyd Mayweather forming his own self-titled promotion company, Mayweather Promotions, in 2007.

But even after that experience, Canelo was keen to get back in the ring with the big dogs of the boxing world. It is difficult to face every contender, but Canelo’s willingness to take on the bigger names earlier on his career has arguably given the Mexican free reign to decide who he fights.

There was some thought that Canelo had avoided David Benavidez before the American’s move up to light heavyweight. But Canelo did fight Genady Golovkin, Dmitry Bivol, Callum Smith, and Caleb Plant during that time.

Shortly after vacating the IBF belt last year to set up a fight with Edgar Berlanga, Canelo spoke to boxing-social.com, saying: “When you hit a certain level, there are stars and there are superstars – they make the championship, the championship does not make them. So, it is way different. I come and I do my career, I fight with [Miguel] Cotto with a clause, I fight with [Floyd] Mayweather with a clause, I fight with everybody to build the name of Canelo Alvarez."

He added: "Right now, I can do what I want. I don’t want to do whatever they want, I want to do whatever I want. In the position I am in, I can do whatever I want, because I deserve it because of all I have done. They have said ‘you don’t want to fight Golovkin’ – I fought him. Lara?’ – I fought [Erislandy] Lara, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, Caleb Plant, [Austin] Trout, Mayweather, Cotto, [Dmitry] Bivol, everything. I did everything."

"Now," he says, "I can do whatever I want.”