Who did Canelo Alvarez draw to?

Saul
Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (Image via @canelo Instagram)

Canelo Alvarez has two draws in his career. The first draw came against Jorge Juarez in the Mexican's fifth professional fight while Gennady Golovkin fought him to a draw in their 2017 match that took place at the T-Mobile Arena.

The fight against Juarez was a split-decision draw with scores of 37-39, 39-37, and 38-38. Jorge Juarez, who's now retired, works as an assistant in a gym in Tijuana, Mexico.

According to BoxRec.com, Jorge Juarez is a Mexican fighter who holds a below-average record of eight wins, 27 losses, and three draws. The highlight of Juarez's career, however, was his fight against Canelo Alvarez when the current pound-for-pound best was coming up the ranks.

Speaking to ESPN, Juarez recalled his fight against Canelo Alvarez and stated that he was brought in to fight him in order to test the Mexican prodigy at the time. He also spoke in retrospect about Alvarez's power when he was still a kid.

"They brought me into reading, to test him. That kid, because he was still a kid, he threw his right hand at me with all his force. He was a one-hit fighter and the truth is, he was strong. But he got tired in the second round and I started to get my hands in there and in the end, they had to make a decision. At the time I felt I had one but they called it a draw. They favored his youth and desire."

The second draw in the first fight against Gennady Golovkin was a controversial one.

Alvarez faced Golovkin in 2017 for the world middleweight title unification fight. After 12 rounds of back-and-forth action, the fight was ruled a split decision draw with a scorecard of 118-110 to Canelo, 115-113 to Golovkin, and 114-114.

Golovkin outstruck Canelo by a wide margin and presented better optics for the fans and judges. The 118-110 score for Canelo by infamous combat sports judge Adalaide Byrd outraged fight fans around the world.

However, Canelo Alvarez came back with a vengeance in the second fight against Golovkin and convincingly won the fight via majority decision in 2018.


Oleksandr Usyk states he'll fight Canelo Alvarez at cruiserweight

Unified WBA, IBF, and IBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has revealed his desire to fight boxing's current pound-for-pound best Canelo Alvarez.

While speaking to FightHype.com, Usyk said he would consider fighting the Mexican superstar at cruiserweight while holding the heavyweight title. Via a translator, Usyk said:

"Yeah I can do that, I can fight in cruiserweight. I'll keep my belts in heavyweight and then I'll go back and cruise or wait and fight [Canelo Alvarez] and then I'll come back to heavyweight... Everything goes around Canelo... I would have to beat him [if the fight happens]. Good for him [Canelo], that he's moving up and fighting in different weight classes."

Watch the interview below:

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Although Usyk spoke about facing Canelo Alvarez, it is absurd to think that the Ukrainian will ever step inside the boxing ring and face the Mexican.

Alvarez currently fights at super middleweight. Meanwhile, Usyk is 6 ft 3 in and is currently competing in the heavyweight division. Additionally, Canelo faced the first loss of his career in a decade when he moved up to challenge Dmitry Bivol for the light heavyweight title in May 2022. So naturally, a fight against a heavyweight champion would not be a fair contest for the Mexican.

Canelo Alvarez will face junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo on September 30. Charlo will take a two-division jump to challenge the Mexican, who is a massive -400 favorite. Most experts are heavily leaning toward Canelo and expect him to finish Jermell Charlo in the middle rounds.

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