I still believe that Canelo Alvarez has been focused too much on titles and not enough on his opponents.
That’s why he fought Avni Yildirim, Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant this year instead of potential foes like David Benavidez, Gennadiy Golovkin (a third time) and Jermall Charlo. The latter three, who are more appealing opponents from a fan perspective, didn’t hold belts Alvarez wanted.
And a number of fighters recorded bigger single victories than Alvarez did, including Oleksandr Uysk (Anthony Joshua), Tyson Fury (Deontay Wilder) and Terence Crawford (Shawn Porter).
All that said, no one topped Alvarez’s overall body of work in 2021, which included victories over two previously unbeaten beltholders (Saunders and Plant) and the unification of all four major 168-pound titles.
Thus, the Mexican star was an easy choice for Boxing Junkie’s 2021 Fighter of the Year.
Alvarez, who held the WBC and WBA belts, knocked out sadly overmatched mandatory challenger Yildirim in the third round on Feb. 27. And he was just getting started.
Next came the slick, experienced Saunders, who owned the WBO super middleweight title and had never tasted defeat. The southpaw from England gave Alvarez some trouble … for a while. He was taken out in eight rounds.
Then came Plant, a quick, athletic boxer with a perfect record and a lot of confidence. The IBF beltholder was competitive for most of the fight but was ultimately worn down and stopped in 11, which made Alvarez the first undisputed 168-pound champion in the four-belt era and the first Mexican to win all the belts in any division.
As Alvarez and his team put it, he made history. That’s true, which has to be acknowledged.
I can suggest that Alvarez should ignore titles – which have limited significance because too many of them – and give fans the fights they want most. However, he would argue that fighters are judged to a good extent on the number of belts they collect, the number of divisions in which they collect them and the number of unified titles they’ve held. And when you have a chance to become an undisputed champion, which is uncommon, you have to jump at it.
That’s what Alvarez did. He fought within the prevailing system, which rewards those with the most trinkets. And not only did he achieve his goal of becoming “undisputed,” he was as dominating as ever in the process.
Indeed, Alvarez was never better than he was in 2021.