Size not an issue for Canelo
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez makes the step up to super-middleweight on Saturday when he takes on WBA ‘regular’ champion Rocky Fielding and is a short price favourite to win a world title in a third weight class.
The Mexican (50-1-2, 34 KOs) is 1.06 to rack up the 51st victory of his career at New York’s Madison Square Garden, with Fielding 10.00 to prove he is not out of his depth at this level.
Having got the better of Gennady Golovkin last time out – albeit in controversial circumstances – in the pair’s rematch to unify the middleweight division, Alvarez is looking for a bigger challenge, quite literally in the case of Fielding.
The 31-year-old Brit stands at 6ft 1in, three inches taller than his opponent, who is used to bullying his adversaries in the ring given his naturally big frame.
At the 168lb limit, Fielding could physically dominate his rival, although that could prove tricky given how elusive Canelo can be between the ropes.
Golovkin landed just 27 per cent of his punches against Alvarez, who connected with 32 per cent of his and also hit more power shots in another slick showing.
No Rocky upset for Fielding
For Fielding, this is likely to be a high watermark in his career as he achieves his “dream” of headlining MSG, against a man he was pestering for a selfie not that long ago.
The Liverpudlian has established a good 27-1 record with 15 wins by KO and has already upset the odds once in his career, by stopping the previously unbeaten Tyron Zeuge to claim the WBA super-middleweight title in Germany in July.
Fielding’s fights don’t tend to go the distance, with six of his last 10 not seeing the final bell, so expect him to try and get on the front foot.
However, his only previous bout against a world-class opponent saw him dumped on his backside by Callum Smith in 2015 and a similar outcome is likely come Saturday night.
Alvarez has knocked out his last three British opponents, downing Liam Smith and Amir Khan most recently, although he didn’t stop Golovkin or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in his last three fights.
The Mexican tends to take his time to work out his rival and has only won three of his last 13 fights before the sixth round. He is 4.00 to win in rounds 7-9, while the fight to go over is 7.5 rounds is 2.25.
