Canelo Alvarez's record had come into question pretty heavily by the end of 2012, as his one-sided mauling of Josesito Lopez proved little to his skeptics. A fight with Miguel Cotto was supposedly in the works for 2013, but Austin Trout upset Cotto at Madison Square Garden in December.
Coming off of that fight, fans wanted to see Canelo fight Trout. Golden Boy Promotions didn't want it -- at first, it sounded as though Schaefer would still want to make Canelo vs Cotto, with that fight even after the loss perceived as being worth more money. But Alvarez demanded Austin Trout. He wanted to prove he was as good as the hype. To his credit, he pushed for a test, and he got one.
Trout was able to box with Canelo for the most part, but the power game was a different story. Canelo was the harder hitter, including putting Trout on the canvas in seventh round en route to a decision win in front of 40,000 plus at the Alamodome.