Canelo Alvarez loves puppies, giving gift bags and punching Mario Lopez
Canelo Alvarez is boxing’s biggest superstar.
At 29, Alvarez — who will jump two weight classes to try to win a world title when he challenges Sergey Kovalev on Nov. 2 in Las Vegas for the WBO light heavyweight belt — has amassed the richest contract in sports history (worth $365 million), three division belts and legions of fans.
But how well do we really know the sport’s reigning middleweight champion?
“He’s not self-revealing. He’s a global superstar who does not need or seek attention,” said longtime HBO boxing announcer Jim Lampley. “And that makes him very different from a lot of fighters.”
How different? We went a couple of rounds with people in Alvarez’s orbit — from his trainer to Michael Buffer to the First Lady of Boxing herself — to find stories that reveal more about the man behind the gloves.
Ramiro Gonzalez, public relations director for Golden Boy Promotions: “We had just signed Canelo [to a multifight contract], and we went to see him in Guadalajara. At the gym, I saw his work habits. I said, ‘This is a real mature kid. He’s not like an ordinary fighter.’
“Then Canelo asked, ‘Where are you staying?’ I told him my hotel and he said, ‘Oh, that’s very close to where my apartment is. Do you want a ride?’ I sat down in his car, a Spyder Audi, and suddenly it went vrrroooom!!! I was bracing my feet. It was very scary! I said, ‘Canelo, please [slow down]!’ Since then I have refused to ride with him.”
Jim Lampley, veteran play-by-play announcer: “Canelo told me it’s not uncommon for him to go out and ride horseback in the morning [when he’s at his stateside home in Delmar, California] for two and a half or three hours and then go to the gym and do a full boxing workout in the afternoon. I said, ‘Wow, that’s pretty strenuous. How do you do that?’
“He replied, ‘[It’s] two different sets of muscles. The muscles I use to control a horse — the inside of the thighs and calves — don’t have anything to do with boxing. It’s no physical strain for me to do that and then box two or three hours in the gym.’ Endurance horseback riding is not easy, and it’s a mark of what extraordinary conditioning he has that he is able to do both.
“In my experience, horses understand nonverbal communication with human beings. Canelo is a master of nonverbal communication, as good as any fighter I’ve ever seen at achieving dominance within the ring — and amplifying that dominance with his poker face. He never projects any real emotion inside the ring — his expression is always the same. I think that gives him a level of psychological superiority that he communicates to his opponents.”
http://www.espn.com/espn/rss/news