The Greatest Boxer In The World

So who is it?

It's no secret that pound-for-pound rankings are subjective: it's entirely up to the individual to determine who they feel are pound-for-pound worthy. However, the majority can agree that there are certain factors that are undeniably important when determining such a list; to be recognized as a world-class fighter, one must meet several requirements. Amongst the most important factors to determining who makes the pound-for-pound list are the titles a fighter holds, moving across and holding titles in multiple weight divisions, title defenses, the caliber of the opponents, ring generalship, and activity, to name a few. In establishing the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, such factors were considered, and in the end, one fighter stands out amongst the rest as representative of a truly world-class boxer. His name is Santos Saul Alvarez Barragan, otherwise known as Canelo.

Activity and Resume

Any doubt of Canelo not being the pound-for-pound king has been put to rest following Canelo's recent win over Billy Joe Saunders. Having unified the WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles, Canelo is now one step closer to making history and becoming the first undisputed super-middleweight champion.

Saul Alvarez has proven himself to be the Mexican superstar that the boxing community has long regarded him to be. Having started fighting professionally at 15, Canelo has progressed through the ranks from the local circuit to the world stage and remains the current WBC, WBA, WBO, and The Ring super middleweight champion. A very active fighter, Canelo has fought 3 times in the span of 6 months despite COVID-19 concerns. Even more so, Canelo has stated he plans on having a 4 fight year. Canelo's next fight will most likely be with current IBF world super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant, and if Canelo wins, he will become the undisputed champion at super middleweight. Should Canelo become undisputed champion, a fight with current WBC and IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev or with WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol could be set down the road.

It's not just who he plans on fighting. Taking a look at his past opponents, we see he's fought champions in the legendary Floyd Mayweather Jr, Gennady Golovkin, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, Sugar Shane Mosley, Daniel Jacobs, Austin Trout, and Erislandy Lara. Canelo's activity and caliber of opponents clearly cannot be understated in any sense.

Ring dominance

When it comes to his dominance in the ring, Canelo puts on a show like no other. His recent performance against Callum Smith is a testament to his ability to control the pace and walk down his opponents effectively with aggression, all while maintaining a high level of defense. According to CompuBox stats, Canelo landed a whopping 57.3% of his power punches compared to Smith's 24.1%. Canelo landed double the jabs of Smith (88 to 44) and a total of 214 punches, the most Smith has ever been hit with. Coming into the fight, Callum Smith had the obvious size advantage with an extra 7 inches of height and 7.5 inches of reach. It proved futile, as the Brit was completely outclassed.

Speaking on his performance in the Saunders fight, his ability to walk his opponents down and land power punches was put on display yet again. Being able to effectively neutralize the threat presented by an awkward southpaw fighter, Canelo dominated Saunders in the eighth round, where Canelo would land 12 of 23 of his power punches compared to just 1 of 8 for Saunders, before landing a beautifully timed and powerful counter uppercut. As per CompuBox stats, Canelo landed 58 of his 110 thrown power punches (a 52.7% accuracy) and 73 of his total thrown 206 punches, compared to Saunder's 63 total landed punches. While Saunders certainly had his moments where he was able to establish his jab, throw some quick combinations, and land shots on Canelo while on the inside, it was ultimately Canelo, who was looking to land power shots (to the body especially) all night, that stepped it up in the later rounds and cruised his way to victory.

This wouldn't be the first time Canelo has fought an opponent larger than him. In November of 2019, Canelo moved up to light heavyweight to face the then WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. Granted, this might have been an older Kovalev, but Kovalev was impressive, to say the least, with the use of his jab (which he landed 63 of a career-high attempted 577) to keep Canelo at bay and frustrated. However, it all proved meaningless as Canelo was able to maintain patience throughout the fight and finally land a left hook to Kovalev's temple, rocking his equilibrium, and finishing it off with a straight right.

The statistics back the argument as well. 38 of his 59 wins were by way of knockout, equating to an above-average 64.4% KO percentage. While it may not be the highest even in the super middleweight division (for example, compared to David Benavidez's 87.5%), it certainly shows he has knockout power and can be a finisher. The fight with Saunders should be evidence of his power, as it is reported Canelo's uppercut fractured Saunders's eye socket.

Despite this, Canelo remains a very conserved fighter in the sense that he rarely throws recklessly. Looking back at the Kovalev fight, CompuBox stats show Canelo threw 128 jabs compared to Kovalev's 577 and 345 total punches compared to Kovalev's 745. A big part of Canelo's game is working the body of his opponents. Against Shane Mosley, Canelo secured a mind-boggling 57% of his 441 thrown power punches, landing some brutal body shots in the process.

Regarding his stats at the time he fought Callum Smith, 46.3% of the power punches he threw connected (the #1 in the super middleweight division and #5 in boxing) as well as 36.8% of his total number of shots connecting (#2 in boxing), speaking volumes about his accuracy.

A complex, unpredictable fighting style

His style isn't limited to power punches, rather his ability to counterpunch, feint, create openings, set traps, and defensive abilities evidenced by his brilliant head movement, for example.

Canelo vs Khan

From the beginning of the fight, Canelo clearly lost the first couple of rounds to a faster Khan who was able to utilize his hand speed to land effective combinations. Canelo would use this as a period of "calibration" to familiarize himself with Khan's ability and get to work in the later rounds. Canelo was able to cut off the ring to make sure Khan had no breathing room and was slowly able to close the distance between each other. Again in this fight, we saw Canelo's strategy to attack the body as he started to load up hooks to Khan's sides. In round 6, Canelo started to pump out jabs before fainting one to land a crushing right. The fight was nothing short of a well-calculated game plan from Canelo that utilized the many skills of his arsenal.

Canelo vs Jacobs

If you follow boxing, chances are you've come across this clip. Round 4 of this fight is one of the best examples of Canelo's head movement. This round saw Jacobs land just 2 of 25 thrown jabs, calculating to an 8% accuracy. Canelo's ability to slip and roll is a big part of his game and can be seen in his fights with Golovkin and Cotto as well.

Canelo vs Cotto

Canelo's performance against Cotto showed one of his most valuable assets on display, his counterpunching. An important thing to note is how Canelo's head movement enables him to set up these shots. Canelo has the ability to slip and block punches in a way to create openings for him to set up his counters.

But what about Crawford?

Part of being touted as Boxing's best is the criticism that comes with it. Those opposed to putting Canelo at the top of the pound-for-pound list will look to other fighters, namely Terence Crawford, as being worthy of the top spot, but the argument falls flat after looking more closely. In Crawford, we see an extremely skilled switch hitter with great Ring IQ, but his resume is his biggest weakness. The best fighter Crawford has ever faced comes down to Amir Khan, Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Egidijus Kavaliauskis, compared to Canelo's wins over Golovkin, Jacobs, Cotto, Trout, etc. While people may point to Crawford being undefeated and Canelo having a loss, it is important to note that his loss was against Mayweather, one of the greatest fighters of our time. Furthermore, Canelo has held titles in 4 weight classes, compared to Crawford being a 3 division champion. Yes, Crawford was the undisputed junior welterweight champion, but Canelo has unified 3 divisions in light middleweight, middleweight, and super middleweight. Should Canelo become undisputed, however, there can be no argument in Crawford's favor.

Final Thoughts

Some might think Canelo isn't the greatest fighter to ever lace the gloves up. Some might not even consider him to be the greatest Mexican fighter ever, although that's a discussion for another day. However, make no mistake: as of now, Canelo is unstoppable. He will stand alongside Mexico's greats such as Julio Cesar Chavez, Salvador Sanchez, Erik Morales, and Juan Manuel Marquez. He can and, in my opinion, will make history to become the first undisputed super middleweight champion. Should Canelo continue his current career trajectory, the sky's the limit for him.

Edited By: Varchas Bharadwaj