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Expecting 40,000 or more fans at the Alamodome on April 20, Canelo Alvarez and Austin Trout have already moved 31,000 tickets for their Showtime main event, which could easily wind up the biggest crowd for a pro boxing fight in 2013, and almost surely will be at least for the United States.
Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO) is definitely the fight's A-side, but it has no doubt (no pun intended) been aided by the fact that Trout (26-0, 14 KO) is coming off of a big-time win over Miguel Cotto in December. With heavy local promotion, Canelo's popularity among Mexican and Mexican-American fans, and Trout having a solid fan base in the region as well, fighting out of Las Cruces, New Mexico, the event has been handled very well overall, and should also be a ratings hit for Showtime.
It can be argued as the most interesting fight currently on the scheduled, given that these are two fighters who aren't past their best (Canelo may not even be at his best yet), have had some good exposure, present an intriguing style matchup for one another, and can easily be considered the top two fighters at 154 pounds, now that Floyd Mayweather is moving back to 147.
It's also a fight that fans asked for after Trout beat Cotto. There is the belief that Golden Boy really didn't want to make this fight, but Canelo demanded that it happen. It's happening, and there is some legitimate buzz around this bout.