Saul Alvarez

Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, born July 18, 1990, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, is a Mexican Boxer in the Welterweight division. Ranked 2nd at Super Welterweight by the WBC, he is the current NABF Welterweight and WBC Silver Super Welterweight Champion.




Nickname
Like other boxers of Mexican decent Danny "Little Red" Lopez, Ernie Lopez, he has Red hair and due to this he was given the nickname El Canelo (Spanish for Cinnamon). His trainer Jose "Chepo" Reynoso gave Saul his nickname, when he was only thirteen years old.


Amateur career


Álvarez started boxing at thirteen years old, after watching his older brother Rigoberto's debut as a professional Boxer.In 2004 he won the silver medal at the Junior Mexican National championships, held in Sinaloa. He became the 2005 Junior Mexican National Boxing Champion in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico at the age of 15. Even though Saúl turned pro young he had 20 amateur bouts.




Professional career


Saúl is very popular and already a big attraction all over his country of Mexico. He is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. Considered by many boxing analyst as a top Welterweight prospect and thought to be the next great champion from Mexico.
In the third fight of his career Saúl fought the current IBF Lightweight Champion Miguel Vazquez.
On Saturday June 28, 2008 Saúl would rematch Miguel Vazquez and also make world history when all of his six brothers fought on the same card, Canelo being the youngest. The only downside was that three of them failed to win their pro debuts. The others four more experienced brothers won.
On March 6, 2010 he got a crushing third round K.O. over Brian Camechis in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico.[20] Saúl Álvarez defeated Jose Miguel Cotto on May 1, 2010 on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley undercard in the MGM Grand Garden Arena on HBO PPV to retain the NABF welterweight title.
His sixth round TKO win over Luciano Leonel Cuello was held in the Vicente Fernández Arena. During the post fight interveiw Mexican singer Vicente Fernández offered to give Saúl a Horse, he was also given a horse by the mayor of Tepic, where Alvarez sometimes trains.
He next fought against the former WBC Welterweight Champion Carlos Baldomir at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on the Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora undercard. For this fight the chief sparring partner is his oldest brother Rigo, who was preparing to fight the Interim WBA World Light Middleweight Champion Nobuhiro Ishida. Baldomir stated in a pre-fight interview that he wants the winner of Mora vs. Mosley, as he said "after I knock out El Canelo". Baldomir weighed in at 153.4 pounds for the bout, that was contracted for 151 pounds. In California, if a fighter is overweight he is penalized 20 percent of his purse. However, Alvarez, declined to take the extra $12,000 from Baldomir. Álvarez won by Knockout in the sixth round, Saúl is only the second boxer ever to stop Carlos Baldomir.

Personal life


In an interview, Álvarez explained that he was born in the city of Guadalajara, but his family was at the time living in San Agustín de Tlajomulco de Zúñiga. At the age of five his family would move to their current home of Juanacatlán, growing up on his families farm and were he still rides horseback. His Father and all of his brothers have dark hair. Like his mother Ana María, Saúl is a redhead. His brothers are Welterweight Prospects Ramon Álvarez, Ricardo Álvarez and Middleweight Contender Rigoberto Álvarez.
Canelo is currently dating the 27 year old Marisol González, who is Miss Mexico Universe 2003 and a sports reporter for Televisa Deportes. He has one daughter that he had with a former girlfriend.