Mayweather vs Ortiz Undercard: Canelo Alvarez Wants to Be Great

Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles did a nice feature piece on young Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, the WBC junior middleweight titleholder who, since he was just 19 years old, has been catching the eye of more and more boxing fans. Alvarez's next fight is on Saturday, when he faces welterweight fringe contender Alfonso Gomez in Los Angeles, which will be shown live as part of the Mayweather vs Ortiz pay-per-view.

Oscar de la Hoya, who promotes Alvarez, raves about the young fighter, but still cautions against expecting too much, too soon:

"I think his boxing IQ has surpassed anything I had at his age," De La Hoya said. ... "Every person we throw in front him he beats easy, so yes, we're going to have to put him in with one of those legitimate fighters that people are talking about, the champions, soon. It will happen but it's hard to say when but he's blowing everybody away. We'll take that next step soon."

As for Canelo himself, he's focused on becoming a great fighter:

"I think I should be headlining my own cards," Alvarez said. "I want to be great. I want everybody to remember me. When they think of boxing I want them to think of Canelo and when they write the history of boxing I want them to write Canelo in big, bold letters."

Alvarez is correct that he should be headlining his own cards, as he's already amassed a sizable fanbase in Mexico and one that is growing rapidly in the United States. He's had two HBO headlining bouts this year, and this will be the second time he's been in a main co-feature slot on a Floyd Mayweather Jr event. He also was featured on last year's regrettable Mosley vs Mora pay-per-view from HBO, and got a special headlining slot on HBO Latino late last year when he faced Lovemore N'dou. HBO is as high on Alvarez as anyone, and are putting him in position to become a major star.

We'll have more on the undercard of Mayweather vs Ortiz on Wednesday evening with another Very Special Edition of the Bad Left Hook Radio podcast, including a breakdown of Alvarez vs Gomez.