By Geno McGahee
The biggest name in boxing, Canelo Alvarez, 50-1-2, 34 KO’s, will be moving up to 168 pounds to take on WBA super middleweight champion, Rocky Fielding, 27-1, 15 KO’s. Alvarez signed a huge deal with the streaming service DAZN and this is his maiden voyage under the banner and most are considering Fielding easy money going into Saturday’s fight, but there is a glimmer of hope for the defending champ.
Fielding has one loss, and like many other fighters, he is defined by it. He was knocked out in one round by the heavy-handed Callum Smith in 2015. He would be dropped early, fight gallantly and land some of his own shots before falling two more times, with the third knockdown convincing the referee to stop the fight. He’s gone 6-0 in his last six outings and goes into the Canelo showdown with a full head of steam.
Canelo only has one defeat on his ledger as well and that was to the pound for pound best in the game, Floyd Mayweather, JR., and he was a little green for the showdown. Other than that defeat, Canelo has victories over the biggest names in boxing including Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Amir Khan, and most recently, Gennady Golovkin. His last fight was his arguably his biggest victory, a majority decision victory over Golovkin and he is now moving up 8 pounds which may be tougher than expected considering that he is a natural welterweight.
Fielding will try to use his size and reach to overcome the superior skills of Canelo. He’s going to try to get Canelo to attack him where he can use his counterpunching to land, but his questionable defense makes this a dangerous strategy but a fun one for the fans. Fielding is easy to hit, but Canelo didn’t seem to bring his power up from the 154 pound division. He couldn’t hurt Julio Cesar Chavez JR or Gennady Golovkin. His last impressive knockout was against the much smaller Amir Khan. It is likely that Canelo will not be able to knock out Fielding, but he could out-skill him and cruise to a wide unanimous decision.
This is a far more interesting fight than most people are contending. If Fielding can walk through the incoming punches, his fighting spirit and size could make this an interesting fight. Although I would predict a 116-112 decision win for Canelo, I like the heart of Fielding and boxers can’t always keep their effectiveness in higher weight classes. I’m looking forward to this one.
