CANELO ALVAREZ has one more step, opponent and fight in his way before becoming the undisputed super-middleweight king.
IBF champion and 21-0 challenger Caleb Plant stands across the Las Vegas ring from him on Saturday night as the 7-1 underdog in a two-horse race.
The WBC, WBA and WBO mastermind has no so many skills in his arsenal and marquee names on his record that the bookies can barely see a way for the underdog to have his day.
The 31-year-old Mexican has won world titles at super-welter, middle and even up at light-heavy and only been beaten by the legend Floyd Mayweather, when he was a 23-year-old novice.
SunSport found it almost impossible to list five weaknesses Plant might be able to exploit on Saturday.
But an even harder task has been whittling down his strengths to just five.
PUNCH POWER
We could have been more specific and celebrated the Mexican-style body punching that Canelo used to savage brave Brits Liam Smith and Rocky Fielding.
But then we are at risk of forgetting the head shots that knocked Amir Khan clean out and forced Billy Joe Saunders into quitting.
The sheer brutality of the man even allowed him to batter Callum Smith’s arm so badly that his bicep detached from the bone and needed career-saving surgery!
When Alvarez plants his feet and picks his shot, no body part above the belt is safe.
It’s not always one-shot obliteration, from the old Deontay Wilder playbook, but it is brutal precision punching and crunching combinations that have cracked some of the toughest men in the sport.
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HEAD MOVEMENT
With a chin as good as Canelo’s you probably don’t even need to worry about protecting it that much.
A couple of the flush shots knockout artist Gennady Golovkin landed, across their brilliant 24 rounds would have floored a horse but the Guadalajara ace just marched through the abuse.
But Canelo’s head movement – which he constantly works on in Eddy Reynoso’s gym – has been earning memes of it own, thanks to its Matrix-like qualities.
In the fights against GGG, Miguel Cotto and especially Danny Jacobs has been nothing short of amazing.
Because the 56-1-2 ace loves to plant his feet and land power shots, he has to be an expert at defending in the pocket, in range, and he has proven himself a master of the old art.
ENGINE
Canelo failed at least two drug tests in between his two brilliant bouts with Golovkin but was only hit with a six-month ban, it remains a black mark on his record that his biggest backers want you to forget.
At least clenbuterol, the asthma drug in his system that he blamed on contaminated Mexican meat, is a body-building favourite for helping to melt away fat and not a steroid favoured for helping to build fitness or strength.
In the 59 fights Canelo has gone the 12-round distance 14 times and, just before he was a household superstar, the 10-round distance on five occasions. And never has he looked like he is struggling down the final straight.
Even when he went up to light-heavyweight – piling on muscle to hit 12st 7lbs and blast out bonafide great Sergey Kovalev – his gas tank never seemed to struggle under the extra strain.
And that aerobic capacity not only means Canelo always makes the final bell, but that he remains a violent threat until the last second.
Kovalev, Billy Joe Saunders and Liam Smith were all stopped at various stages of the last four rounds of their bouts, proving nobody is safe until they hear the final bell.
EXPERIENCE
The flame-haired superstar is the youngest of seven brothers who all boxed professionally.
With minimal amateur experience, the pugilism prodigy turned pro at just 15 and learned his craft the old fashioned way.
In 2006 he enjoyed seven fights, the same again in 2007, upped the ante to eight in 2008.
Even in the modern day, when elite fighters can afford to fight two or three times a year and the pandemic has cancelled month’s worth of shows, Canelo has his fifth fight inside 12 months on Saturday.
The ace has struggled with southpaws, outpointed KO artists, overpowered fading legends, stunned opponents early and scored stoppages while behind on the cards.
Caleb Plant will have to do something sensational on Saturday as his opponent will have seen it all before.
ARROGANCE
There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. But in boxing – perhaps more than any other sport – arrogance is thoroughly earned and can be a brilliant weapon.
How many of Saul Alvarez’s opponent’s have genuinely believed they can beat him?
How many of the victims on his record has he started at down the barrel and calmly told ‘you are not on my level’? How many of them has he convinced?
Everybody wants to fight Canelo because he is the biggest payday in the sport – he knows it too and sometimes takes pleasure in telling people that he is paying their wages.
The Mexican has already drawn blood in this rivalry, counter-slapping Plant with two perfect shots at their pre-fight press conference, causing the America’s designer sunglasses to cut him on the right cheek.
Plant has earned his shot and his cheque but he is going to need superhuman belief and resolve to overwhelm the will of Saul Alvarez.
