Canelo Alvarez Signs Major Agreement with HBO Sports

09/24/201409/23/2014 Golden Boy Promotions

Golden Boy Promotions Founder Oscar de la Hoya, HBO Sports President Ken Hershman, and superstar boxer Canelo Álvarez today announced a major new agreement to showcase the fan-favorite fighter’s matches on HBO Sports.

“For all of my career, I have wanted to fight on HBO for one main reason–I believe it will allow more of my fans to see me in action,” said Álvarez (44-1-1, 31KOs). “Today marks a huge milestone for me, and I look forward to a long and successful partnership with HBO.”

Álvarez, a light-middleweight knockout artist known for his tremendous punching power, made his pro debut in 2005 at 15-years-old and quickly became one of the most popular prize fighters in the sport. His exciting fighting style and reputation for taking on all comers has captured the attention of fans all around the world.

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Canelo back at HBO; next fight likely Joshua Clottey on December 6th

09/24/201409/23/2014 Jeff Sorby

Golden Boy Promotions biggest star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is meeting with HBO President of Sports Ken Hershman and Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya today to sign a new contract that will return the red-haired Canelo to HBO for an unspecified amount of fights. Canelo was previous with HBO before leaving for Showtime for his last 5 fights.

With Canelo coming back to HBO, it brings them a big star that can potentially take over for Manny Pacquiao when he eventually walks away from the sport or gets too old to bring in the PPV numbers like he used to.

Along with Canelo’s signing with HBO to be announced today, Canelo’s December 6th fight against Joshua Clottey is expected to be announced as well. The Canelo-Clottey fight will be taking place at the Alamadome in San Antonio, Texas. It’s not a great fight, to be sure, but it gives Canelo a sure thing win so that he can move forward afterwards and face WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto in their expected catch-weight fight at 155 pounds next year in May on Cinco de Mayo.

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Is Canelo capable of taking the baton from Mayweather to become boxing’s next PPV star?

08/20/2014 Rob Smith

Before former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s last two fights against Alfredo Angulo and Erislandy Lara, he was seen by many boxing fans as the guy who would take over for the aging Floyd Mayweather Jr to become the sport’s next huge money-making pay-per-view attraction.

It didn’t matter that Canelo couldn’t speak English and that he looked too heavy for the weight division he was fighting in; fans still saw him as the guy who would take the baton from Mayweather and bring in huge PPV numbers each time he fought. But now after the disappointing PPV stats that Canelo brought in for his last two fights against Angulo and Lara, it’s now looking like Canelo will be more of a replacement of Miguel Cotto in terms of PPV stats than Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao.

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Golovkin willing to be the B-side against the top guys, says Loeffler

07/28/2014 Jeff Sorby

To show how serious WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs) is willing to get the big names to fight him, he’s willing to be the B-side and even the C-side to make those fights happen, says his promoter Top Loeffer of K2 Promotions.

Loeffler doesn’t say who these fighters are that he’d be willing to have Golovkin play second fiddle, but you would have to guess that he’s talking about Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, but not necessarily in that order.

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Canelo should do the right thing and give Lara a rematch like Mayweather gave Maidana a rematch

07/20/2014 Jeff Sorby

It’s been a little over a week since former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) won a controversial 12 round split decision win over Erislandy Lara (19-2-2, 12 KO’s) in their fight at middleweight at 155, and it’s clear that boxing fans are even more undecided now than they were back then.

Last night’s replay of the Canelo-Lara fight, including the ALL ACCESS epilogue showing, showed that Canelo’s win over Lara was far from convincing. The judges gave the more popular Canelo the victory by the scores of 115-113 and 117-111 for Canelo, and 115-113, but boxing fans are still largely split down the middle about who really won the fight.

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The case against the Boxing Purists

07/20/201407/19/2014 Philip Green

Boxing purists are a group of fans that like nothing better than to fawn over the defensive skills and ‘tactical mastery’ of fighters who most normal fans would simply describe as boring. Whilst there is nothing inherently wrong with appreciating the defensive aspects of the sport, boxing purists often look down on aggressive, come forward fighters who try to force the action as being one dimensional and lacking in genuine boxing skills.

Like a bunch of snooty College Professors they usually regard ‘lefty’ Southpaws to be inherently superior to Orthodox fighters, a belief which is as baseless as it is predictable. Purists are also some of the most vocal whiners and complainers when a close decision does not go their way and it is time their charges were rebuked.

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Saul Alvarez vs Erislandy Lara – a politically correct split decision could be a fancy phrase for “plunder”

07/14/201407/14/2014 Ivan Ivanov

A figure like Saul Alvarez is good for boxing because it unifies the most loyal and numerous fan base in boxing today. Mexican fans are a dream; they are faithful to their dear, hostile to the opposition and willing to spend their hard earned money on their favorite boxer. The industry depends on them as the greatest marketing force and the „macho” element in their culture makes them the perfect target group for boxing entertainment.

There has been no shortage of Mexican talent in the lighter divisions but boxing has seen better days. Canelo is what the fans depend on today and he could only hope he lives up to their expectations. Some day he might but he didn’t against Erislandy Lara. Alvarez was thoroughly outclassed by the Cuban ex-amateur standout and he should have lost that fight by at least a 6 point margin.

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Canelo vs Lara: Post Fight Press Conference

09/15/201607/14/2014 Michael Montero

Only minutes after thrilling a sellout crowd of 14.239 raucous fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Erislandy Lara and Saul Alvarez came to the media room to answer questions from the press and reflect on their highly competitive bout. Team Canelo showed up first, as Lara was getting his eye stitched up in the dressing room. Alvarez donned dark sunglasses to conceal the swelling around his own eyes, courtesy of the straight lefts Lara connected with throughout their fight.

“We knew it was going to be that type of fight (chasing Lara around the ring), I was going to be pressing him”, said Canelo. “But I didn’t think it was going to be that long of a marathon”. When asked about whether his corner ever told him he was behind at any point in the fight, he replied, “No they never told me that. They kept telling me to keep the pressure. I felt that I won, I pressured, I made the fight, I ran to him, I landed the combinations.”

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Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Canelo vs Lara – The Fight, The Score Cards, The Aftermath!!!

07/14/201407/14/2014 Vivek Wallace

Casey H. (Los Angeles, CA): I saw your Facebook post about the score cards and don’t necessarily agree, but I can respect that there’s a lot of depth to your points. Can you elaborate on how you scored the fight the way you did and why?

Vivek W. (ESB): I think the easiest way to address this question is to point out the fact that fans must realize one simple truth: The way we judge fights as fans is NOT the criteria in which judges are asked to judge fights professionally. If it were that easy, there would be no basic and/or extended requirements to do so. When we judge fights on a fan level, we look for guys landing, giving and taking, and basically the typical stuff. A judges job is far more in-depth and it requires a totally different mental approach, as there are three major things they have to account for, wherein the typical everyday fan is only looking for one (who’s getting hit the most).

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Lara Proves Wrong Thing in Loss to Canelo

07/13/2014 Paul Strauss

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez managed on saturday night to squeak out a split decision win over Erislandy Lara at the MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, Las Veges, NV. Lara was devastated over the loss. He felt making Canelo look foolish should have been enough for him to earn the win.

Lara was right, but only about one thing. He did make Canelo look foolish. He would have made any fighter in his weight class look foolish, while proving he has a great pair of legs. He was like Barry Sanders, the great running back for the Detroit Lions. Sanders used to make defenders look foolish when they grabbed for him and got nothing but air. In football the trick is the runner has to advance the ball. In boxing, you still have to punch to win a fight.

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